A federal district court in Florida has ruled that in cases of continuous misappropriation where a plaintiff can establish that at least one occurrence took place after the effective date of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (May 11, 2016), that plaintiff is entitled to at least partially recover under the DTSA. Neither party raised the question of whether this butts against the notion that you cannot apply a statute retroactively.
In this case, Plaintiff Adams Arms, which specializes in military-grade rifles, alleges that Defendant Unified Weapon Systems, Inc. (“UWS”) both improperly acquired and disclosed its trade secrets. Adams Arms says that its rifles’ unparalleled reliability is the result of certain mechanical processes, mixes of parts, and the vendors used to supply them. Plaintiff disclosed this information to Defendants because they had been working together to win a bid with the Peruvian military. They also granted a tour of their facility, and handed over pricing information. Prior to this exchange, in 2014, parties executed a “Mutual Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Agreement,” which was to be binding upon the companies and their representatives and officers.
However, relations between the parties soured when Defendant began locking Plaintiff out of meetings with the Peruvian client, and—Plaintiff alleges—attempted to sell to the client UWS rifles that were actually retooled Adams Arms rifles, following Plaintiff’s mechanics and designs.
Plaintiff Adams Arms seeks to recover under the DTSA, while Defendants believe the trade secrets misappropriation claim (Count 5 of the complaint) should be dismissed because the UTSA governs all incidents prior to May 11, 2016. The Court rejected Defendants’ motion to dismiss. Judge Hernandez Covington said that UWS signed a contract with the Peruvian military after May 11th, using the Adams Arms designs, specifications, and processes, which enables Plaintiff’s disclosure claim to advance in court. However, all trade secrets were acquired pre-DTSA, so Plaintiff’s misappropriated acquisition claims cannot be remedied under that statute.
Read the full case here: https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/Adams_Arms_LLC_v_Unified_Weapon_Sys_Inc_No_816cv1503T33AEP_2016_B?1475452042