Trade Secrets and Trial Secrets?
By Press
From CIO.com writer, Al Sacco, a story concerning the litigation in federal court in Delaware between microprocessor manufacturers AMD and Intel. The plaintiff, AMD, subpoenaed information from numerous non-party computer manufacturers and retailers in an effort to show that Intel was using its market power to muscle AMD out of the market.
The computer manufacturers and retailers were not happy at the prospect of laying out their competitive information -- such as manufacturing processes and capacity -- in open court. The parties have attempted to craft a solution that will allow the courtroom to be closed during what could be long stretches of the trial testimony.
This is another instance of trade secrets policy clashing with the age-old policy of open courts.
It will be interesting to see what the court is prepared to live with, irrespective of what the parties can agree upon.
The computer manufacturers and retailers were not happy at the prospect of laying out their competitive information -- such as manufacturing processes and capacity -- in open court. The parties have attempted to craft a solution that will allow the courtroom to be closed during what could be long stretches of the trial testimony.
This is another instance of trade secrets policy clashing with the age-old policy of open courts.
It will be interesting to see what the court is prepared to live with, irrespective of what the parties can agree upon.
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