The necessity of protecting trade secrets and other confidential data during pretrial discovery arises not only in the context of a copyright or patent infringement claim, but can also arise in other litigation as well, such as for product liability, employment discrimination, and fraud. Although some courts have held that there is a greater need for trade secret protection in patent or trade secret infringement litigation because that litigation takes place between competitors, in fact, the same degree of need exists in other litigation because it is not uncommon for competitors to act as expert witnesses for the opposing side.
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