Approaching the Defend Trade Secret Act’s (DTSA’s) ten‑year anniversary, trade secret disputes are increasingly reaching appellate courts, providing new guidance on the contours of federal trade secret law.
In this second installment of the Trade Secret Litigation Watch, CRA’s Intellectual Property team examines emerging trends and case outcomes with an emphasis on damages issues.
Three developments include:
- Federal trade secret case filings surged in 2025, with a 20% increase over 2024 and a record 1,552 new cases—the highest since the DTSA’s enactment in 2016;
- AI-related trade secrets filings continued to grow, with a 92% jump from the first half of the 2025; and
- Trade secret damages awards are highly volatile and case-specific, with notable variances between the “top ten” damages awards from the past 5 years and other cases alongside significant appellate activity impacting previously awarded damages, as demonstrated in the Appian v. Pegasystems case.
