When trade secrets are misappropriated, companies face an early decision that can define the entire outcome of a dispute: whether to pursue civil litigation, seek arbitration, or involve the Department of Justice. This fireside session is led by a senior DOJ official and focuses on how these decisions are made in practice, including what the DOJ looks for when assessing potential trade secret cases and how those considerations should shape in-house strategy from day one.

• How DOJ evaluates trade secret theft referrals, including evidence quality, victim cooperation, and jurisdictional factors.
• When arbitration or civil litigation may be more effective than criminal referral.
• Cost, disclosure, and control trade-offs across arbitration, court proceedings, and DOJ involvement.
• How early choices affect leverage, timing, and the ability to pursue parallel proceedings.

Recent decisions show courts putting reverse engineering defences under the spotlight –
increasingly scrutinising how information is obtained, how AI tools are used, and whether access or contractual restrictions were breached. This session brings together a panel of in-house counsel, litigators, and technical experts to explore when reverse engineering defences are useful in practice, and what this means for enforcement and defence strategies.

• When reverse engineering is treated as lawful versus when courts view it as a cover for misappropriation.
• How courts assess claims of independent development and “clean room” processes in practice.
• The growing importance of contractual restrictions, product terms, and access controls.
• Lessons from recent disputes where reverse engineering arguments failed due to evidence of prior access or employee movement.
• Practical steps companies are taking to protect against reverse engineering without over-claiming secrecy.

Regulatory and government disclosure obligations increasingly require companies to submit highly sensitive technical and commercial information that would otherwise qualify as trade secrets. Join this session to find out how in-house teams manage regulatory compliance without undermining future trade secret protection or litigation position.

• Understand where US regulatory disclosures most commonly weaken trade secret claims, including FDA filings, cybersecurity reporting, and other mandatory submissions.
• Learn how FOIA and government access risks are assessed in practice, and what courts look for when companies argue information remained confidential after disclosure.
• Identify procurement and government contracting disclosures that can compromise trade secret protection, and how to mitigate those risks upfront.
• Take away practical strategies for structuring regulatory submissions to preserve trade secret status and support reasonable-measures arguments in future disputes.

2026 marks the tenth anniversary of the enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), a landmark act that has brought previously unseen legal recognition and protection of trade secrets within the US. This keynote session will reflect on the progress made over the past ten years, key court decisions that continue to change the direction of trade secret legal protection, and predictions on how trade secret legal protection may continue to evolve.