Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks -- 2011



Cooper Tire Co. v. Neal   (Arkansas Supreme Court)

Protection of trade secrets in litigation

The NAM and the Rubber Manufacturers Association asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to allow them to file an amicus brief supporting Cooper Tire's request to review a trial court order that required the company to give technical and proprietary documents to a plaintiff's lawyer without a protective order. The documents to be disclosed contain valuable trade secrets and commercially sensitive information, and disclosure would cause irreparable harm to the company's competitive position.

We argued that the trial court should first consider the content or nature of the documents to determine if they are needed by the plaintiffs. Even if they are necessary to prove a claim in the litigation, an appropriate protective order should be entered. American companies sustain billions of dollars in losses from the theft of their proprietary information, and there are numerous reports of companies being forced out of business when competitors obtain their know-how and trade secrets.

On 4/28/11, the Supreme Court of Arkansas overturned the circuit court. It held that Cooper properly raised an objection to discovery and the lower court should have considered it. The Arkansas Supreme Court vacated the lower court’s order, and found that it "clearly failed to apply" an exception where a defendant applies for a protective order. This is a victory for companies that face litigation pertaining to trade secrets, as it requires court review prior to disclosure.


Related Documents:
NAM brief  (November 30, 2010)
NAM motion to file amicus brief  (October 19, 2010)