What To Do If a Trade Secrets Problem Goes to Court?

I have written quite a bit about trying to prevent a trade secrets problem but little on what to do if the problem becomes a lawsuit. The law allows for the trade secrets to be kept private by sealing the record. Here is an example of where sealing the record might have gone a bit too far:

Pro, who took on the case less than a month ago after U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks recused himself, heard arguments from lawyers for Montgomery and eTreppid in federal court in Reno on Thursday along with Cook.

"I was initially struck by the number of things sealed -- the wholesale sealing of things filed," Pro said.

The judge said he understands the need to seal certain things "where there are assertions of trade secrets and the specter of state secrets, classified information potentially..." But he said there's no reason for entire documents to be kept under seal when they don't directly relate to those areas of concern.

"My expectation is in the future we can try to reduce that, so we don't have to deal with wholesale sealing of documents," Pro said. He indicated he may rule on unsealing some documents as early as next week.

Montgomery's lawyers maintain the source codes and their purpose are trade secrets and in some cases state secrets, but that many of the legal filings -- such as the reasons the government gave for obtaining the search warrant for Montgomery's home -- should be unsealed.

Michael Flynn of Boston, one of Montgomery's lawyers, indicated after the hearing Thursday he was optimistic that would happen.

"We are hugely encouraged by the diligence, caution, deliberations and judicial insight of both Judges Cook and Pro," Flynn told reporters.

Lawyers for eTreppid have resisted unsealing the documents and complained about leaks that led to publicity of Cook's ruling on the search of Montgomery's home.