PJPeter J. Toren

1. Article · Aug 11, 2026 · Peter J. Toren

   Weeding Out the Vague: What Gompert Teaches About Trade Secret Identification (opens the original)

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   “Gompert is something of an outlier…[b]ut the decision nonetheless reinforces a broader and more durable point: the burden falls on the plaintiff to identify its trade secrets with ‘reasonable particularity.’” Trade secrets occupy a unique position among the major forms of intellectual property. Patents, copyrights, and trademarks are, by design, defined and publicly registered, and can be consulted to determine exactly what is claimed. In contrast, trade secrets depend on their being undisclose

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2. Article · Jul 22, 2026 · Peter J. Toren

   Reverse Engineering, ‘Readily Ascertainable’, and the Burden of Proof: Lessons from the Comet Technologies Decision (opens the original)

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   “After Comet Technologies, practitioners litigating parallel DTSA and CUTSA claims should think carefully before dismissing state-law claims to ‘streamline’ a case for trial.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Comet Technologies USA, Inc. v. XP Power, LLC, overturned Comet Technologies’ $40 million trade secret verdict against XP Power and ordered a new trial, finding that the district court erroneously instructed the jury that the defendant bore the burden of proving that Comet

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