New technologies create new challenges for the law. This has certainly been the case for artificial intelligence, which has generated a great deal of discussion, and some litigation, in patent and copyright law. One area that has not been explored is its impact on trade secrets. But recent events indicate that this is about to change.
Connecticut Litigation
In February 2024, West Technology Group, LLC filed a trade secret lawsuit against a former employee, Karl Sundstrom. West Tech. Grp. LLC v. Sundstrom (D.Conn. 24-0018-KAD). West is a global technology company, whose subsidiary, CX360, specializes in AI programs that facilitate structured responses to natural language queries. Sundstrom was an employee who was terminated, when West discovered he had taken confidential information when he left. West brought claims for trade secret misappropriation under the Defend Trade Secrets Act