If Coca-Cola could be proven to have taken a trade secret from Pepsi or vice versa, a civil suit would likely follow, an opportunity for the party whose business interests were hurt to recoup damages.
The St. Louis Cardinals, under federal investigation for hacking into the Astros computer network, potentially could have reviewed, obtained and benefited from Astros trade secrets and proprietary pieces of information.
“I think the Astros could have a case for theft of trade secrets. If we assume that the information that the Cardinals took from them was a trade secret, and based on what I’ve read in the reports, it would meet the legal definition of a trade secret,” said attorney Peter Toren with the law firm Weisbrod Matteis & Copley, a former prosecutor with the Department of Justice who has represented clients for over 20 years in intellectual property and commercial litigation matters.