What should I do if someone took my trade secrets?

Preserve the forensic evidence immediately — do not wipe or reissue the departing employee's devices — and quietly collect access logs, agreements, and transfer records. California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act (Civil Code section 3426 et seq.) and the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. § 1836) support injunctions, damages, and seizure in extreme cases.

The first hours decide what can be proven. Preserve evidence first: do not wipe, reimage, or reissue the suspected person's devices, suspend deletion of email and logs, and collect access records, download histories, and file-transfer logs forensically. Gather the paper foundation too — nondisclosure agreements, policies, and records showing the information was kept secret, because reasonable secrecy measures are an element of the claim. California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act (Civil Code section 3426 et seq.) and the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. § 1836) both provide injunctions, damages measured by loss or unjust enrichment, and exemplary damages plus attorney fees for willful and malicious misappropriation; the federal act adds ex parte seizure in extraordinary circumstances. Claims run three years from discovery (Civil Code section 3426.6), and delay undercuts any request for emergency relief. One California caution: employee non-competes are void under Business and Professions Code section 16600, so the case must rest on actual misappropriation, not the fact that someone left for a rival.

Authority: 18 U.S.C. § 1836