$1.3-million verdict overturned, where design was held to be publicly known, despite efforts to keep it confidential as a trade secret

Although publicly known information can be combined in proprietary ways that create a trade secret, the Colorado Court of Appeals held that a design that is not “a secret in the first place,” in other words, that is a matter “of public knowledge or of general knowledge in an industry” is not, itself, a trade secret, no matter how hard its owner works to keep it confidential, the design does not become a trade secret.

Lacking protection as a trade secret, the Court of Appeals reversed a jury’s $1.3-million verdict in this case for misappropriate in violation of Colorado’s trade secret laws.

The decision is a sharp reminder of the limitations imposed by Colorado law on companies seeking to claim trade secrets. The determination whether information constitutes a trade secret is often crucial in non-compete and non-solicit cases.

The case was Hawg Tools, LLC v. Newsco international Energy Services, Inc. — P.3d — (Colo.App. 2016).