Recent appellate decisions are sending a clear message to companies: trade secret protection is won or lost long before you ever step into litigation.

In Quintara and Double Eagle, the courts didn’t question whether the companies had valuable information. They questioned whether the companies could prove it. Both decisions turned on the same issue — the plaintiffs couldn’t show, with specificity, what their trade secrets were, how they were protected, or why they had economic value.

As one court put it: “If you are not already prepared to prove your trade secrets with specificity, you are not prepared at all.”

For companies operating in competitive markets, this is a wake-up call. Trade secrets can’t live as vague categories like “processes,” “customer data,” or “know-how.” Courts want evidence, not generalities. And they want it at the moment it matters most: at summary judgment under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), or even before discovery under state statutes like California’s 2019.210.

The good news? Building a defensible trade secret program is entirely within your control — and far less expensive than trying to reconstruct it during litigation.

Practical Steps to Build a Strong Trade Secret Program

1. Identify what is actually a trade secret.

Create an internal inventory of the specific formulas, methods, data, algorithms, supplier lists, processes, or designs that give you an edge. Avoid categories. Be specific.

2. Document why each item has value.

Courts look for economic value tied to secrecy. Capture:

• How it saves time or money

• What competitors would gain

• How it improves performance or cost

• Why it is not generally known

This doesn’t need to be lengthy — one paragraph per item is enough.

3. Tie each trade secret to concrete protection measures.

Record the safeguards you already use:

• Access controls and password restrictions

• Confidentiality provisions in employment and vendor agreements

• Need-to-know access policies

• Digital and physical security

• Employee training

Courts want to see real measures, not aspirational policies.

4. Create a “living” trade secret registry.

Maintain a version-controlled log of:

• The trade secret

• Who owns it

• Who has access

• When it was updated

• How it is protected

This becomes indispensable if litigation arises — and extremely painful to reconstruct after the fact.

5. Train employees annually.

Misappropriation often happens accidentally. Build a simple annual training program to reinforce:

• What counts as confidential

• How to store and share sensitive data

• What to do if they suspect misuse

Courts increasingly view training as part of “reasonable measures.”

6. Prepare for misappropriation before it happens.

Know in advance:

• Who internally needs to be notified

• Where evidence is stored

• What should be preserved

• How quickly the company can act

Speed matters — especially because statutes of limitations start when misappropriation should have been detected.

Bottom Line

Trade secret failures are rarely about the secret itself — they’re about the lack of preparation. The strongest companies treat trade secrets as real assets: inventoried, documented, protected, and updated.

With a solid trade secret program in place, you avoid expensive litigation surprises and put yourself in the best position to defend your competitive edge when it matters.