Trade-secret cases · defense or plaintiff counsel
What the complaint calls secret, found where it was already public.
Information that was generally known or readily ascertainable through proper means is not a trade secret. We find the documents that show it: dated before the alleged misappropriation, quoted, and archived.
Where it comes from
Technical secrets leave a public trail.
Formulas, processes, designs, firmware and specifications are described in public far more often than plaintiffs allege — frequently by the plaintiff itself.
Patents and applications
Including the plaintiff's own: a published application discloses what it claims, and it cannot be secret afterwards.
Technical literature
Papers, theses, conference proceedings and standards that describe the same process or design.
Manuals and datasheets
Installation, service and user manuals, and supplier datasheets — the most specific public documents most products have.
Archived product pages
Earlier versions of the plaintiff's and competitors' websites, dated by archive capture.
Regulatory filings
Submissions and certifications that describe a product in detail and are public on filing.
Trade press and video
Product launches, trade-show talks and demonstrations that showed what is now said to be confidential.
Three searches
By the stage of the case.
Before the identification
Complaint search
$1,500
fixed fee · up to 8 categories of secret · 5 business days · each further 4: +$400 and +2 business days
Each category of secret the complaint describes, charted against dated public documents: the passage quoted, with its page, its date and an archived copy you can cite. Public material only, so no protective order is needed. Signed.
$500 credited toward an identification chart or full report on the same case within 90 days.
After the identification
Identification chart
from$3,000
quoted after we read the identification · fee and delivery date fixed in writing before work starts
Each numbered item broken into the facts it claims, and each fact charted against dated public documents: the passage quoted, with its page, its date and an archived copy you can cite. Facts we could not find in public are listed as not found, with where we looked. Signed.
For summary judgment and settlement
Full public-domain report
from$6,000
quoted after we read the identification · fee and delivery date fixed in writing before work starts
Everything in the identification chart, plus: a chart for each item the plaintiff claims as a combination, showing whether the combination itself, not just its parts, appears in public; patent family members and foreign counterparts; theses, journal papers and conference proceedings; earlier manufacturers' products and supplier literature; and a short written summary per item of what was found and what was not.
The quote depends on the number of items and how much each one claims. Introductory pricing for our trade-secret practice. We report what the public record shows; we do not promise that any item will be found in it.
Plaintiff's counsel use the same searches before serving an identification, to confirm the secrets claimed are not already public. Not included: declarations or testimony, and source-code comparison or forensics. A served identification marked confidential is handled under the protective order, as an outside consultant (see below).
What you receive
Organised by the secrets the plaintiff identified.
Secret by secret
Each claimed secret, in the complaint's own words, mapped to the public documents that describe it.
Dated before the conduct
Every source dated by publication or archive capture, and checked against the alleged misappropriation date.
Quoted and located
The passage relied on, verbatim, with page, column or figure — and an archived copy you can cite.
Gaps stated plainly
Where a claimed secret could not be found in public, the report says so and records where it looked.
Example
One row of an identification chart.
Invented for illustration — not from any real case or document.
| Item / fact | Public source | Passage (verbatim) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Item 4, fact 2 Batch held at 60–65 °C for four hours before milling | Supplier application note, rev. B dated March 2014 · p. 6 archived copy linked | “Hold the wet cake at 60 to 65 °C for 4 h prior to milling.” | Found 7 years before the alleged conduct |
| Item 4, fact 3 Milling under nitrogen at below 5% humidity | — | Not described in the sources searched; the source types searched are listed. | Not found |
A full sample, on a closed case: complaint search — Crystal Lagoons v. Martin Aquatic (11-page PDF). The pleaded technical secrets, charted against dated public documents.
How an engagement works
From case number to signed chart.
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Step 1
Case number
The case number is enough to start. We read the public docket and reply within one business day.
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Step 2
Conflicts
Cleared against every party before any confidential material changes hands.
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Step 3
Protective order
We sign the order's acknowledgment as an outside consultant. Where the order requires notice to the other side first, the clock waits for it.
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Step 4
Fixed fee
You send the identification as served. We read it and confirm the item count, fee and delivery date in writing.
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Step 5
Delivery
The signed chart or report, with every source archived. A 30-minute call to walk through it is included.
Confidential material
A served identification is used only for the matter it was served in, kept in access-limited storage, and handled by hand on our own systems — it is not entered into outside tools or services, and it is shown to no one the protective order does not cover. At the close of the matter it is returned or destroyed, and we certify that in writing.
Before an identification is served
Early in a case, the complaint is often the only description of the secrets. We can search what the complaint itself describes — public, so no protective order is needed — to show early which categories of information were already public. That is the complaint search above, at a fixed fee, with part of it credited if an identification chart follows.
Questions counsel ask
Will the other side learn we are using you?
Possibly. Many protective orders require notice before an outside consultant sees confidential material. Work on the complaint alone needs no notice.
Can the results be filed?
Every source is dated and archived, with the passage quoted and located, so it can be cited and authenticated in the usual way. We do not provide declarations or testimony.
What if an item is not in the public record?
The chart says so and records the source types searched. A not-found item is reported as plainly as a found one.
Do you work for plaintiffs?
Yes — plaintiff's counsel use the same search before serving an identification. Never both sides of the same dispute.
When it helps
Early, before discovery
In California, a plaintiff must identify its secrets with reasonable particularity before discovery (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 2019.210). Public documents are how that list gets tested.
At summary judgment
A claimed secret that was readily ascertainable fails an element of the claim, under the DTSA and state law alike.
In settlement
Knowing which secrets are public, and which are not, narrows what the case is really about.
The law and the evidence, explained: when is a trade secret “readily ascertainable”?
We are searchers and analysts, not counsel, and do not give legal opinions. Conflicts are cleared before any engagement, and we never work both sides of a dispute.
Fixed fee, confirmed before work starts.
The case number is enough. We reply with the scope and which search fits, within one business day.
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