Skip Navigation Skip to Footer
Street and buildings in Philadelphia from above

Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets

Conrad O’Brien prosecutes and defends cases raising unfair competition, trade secret, and restrictive covenant issues. We have a strong reputation in federal and state courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and we have also appeared in courts across the country from New Mexico to Virginia. In addition to our courtroom and administrative successes, we take pride in our ability to keep clients out of court, minimizing potential losses by settling or resolving matters early and discreetly

Notable Cases

  • Protected a $1 billion portfolio of trade secrets for a Fortune 100 company by intervening in an action to prevent the licensee from disclosing the portfolio to competitors.  

  • Retained to be litigation counsel protecting a $950 million trade secreted recipe for a Fortune 100 company in the chemical field.  

  • Represented an entertainment center facing reputational harm through cybersquatting and false advertising initiatives. We achieved the shutdown of the offending website and use of a confusingly similar trade name by defendants.

  • Represented a national advertising firm in enjoining former employees found to have taken confidential information and secured a $30,000 discovery sanction for the destruction of evidence. The former employees and new employer were permanently enjoined. Following the injunction proceedings, Conrad O’Brien successfully pursued contempt proceedings against the former employees.

  • Represented an executive of an energy company accused of stealing government top-secret military nuclear information securing a nonsuit on the trade secret and computer fraud and abuse claims.

  • Represented a group of futures traders sued by their former employer. When they worked for a privately owned investment company, a group of futures traders executed a particular trading strategy that netted their former employer tens of millions of dollars in one year. When their contract ended, the traders left the company to set up their own firm and pursue the same strategy. Conrad O’Brien attorneys helped represent the traders when they were sued by their former employer. The traders were ultimately vindicated, defeating the claim that the trading strategy which they used was a secret owned by the former employer.

  • Prevented the disclosure of a $30 million trade secret of a privately held company.