Determining Whether a Trade Secret Was Misappropriated

THE CHALLENGE

Rubber formulating, or compounding, is not necessarily straightforward. Companies spend significant time evaluating components, proportions, process steps, and sequencing, including synergistic and antagonistic effects, to develop materials with the desired properties. These materials are typically difficult to reverse engineer because the curing process and other chemical reactions alter the composition of starting components to yield the end-use product. This combination makes a rubber formulation a valuable asset.

When exploring for subterranean oil and gas reservoirs, many energy companies rely on proprietary rubber formulations for components used in high-pressure pumps and drilling equipment. Our client expended significant resources to develop a unique rubber formulation with exceptional abrasion resistance and extended service life compared to existing commercial products.

Much to their surprise, they learned that a competitor had launched a similar project within weeks of hiring a former employee who had been involved in their compounding process. Exponent was then retained to analyze the development of each material and assist in determining whether their trade secret knowledge was present in the competitive product as a result of the former employee's actions.

EXPONENT'S MULTIDISCIPLINARY SOLUTION

Formulations and processes can be trade secrets and often require extensive development efforts that must be adequately protected. These efforts are critical because a trade secret has commercial value that is derived from specific knowledge. Exponent's staff has the training and education to evaluate these formulations and processes, their development time, the potential to reverse engineer them, and the steps taken to protect the knowledge. In addition, we can readily assess a trade secret's function, value and differentiating performance characteristics.

The various ingredients, as well as their compositions and quantities, used in rubber formulations are critical to the end-use performance of the rubber formulation. Processing and curing methods are similarly vital. Our diverse team of chemists and engineers have studied numerous rubber formulations and were able to leverage this knowledge to evaluate the formulations and processes used by our client and their competitor.
Rubber components used in fracking and drilling equipment are subject to aggressive conditions, including mechanical wear at high temperatures and pressures. Understanding and characterizing these challenging conditions is critical to establishing the relative importance of performance attributes specific to trade secret rubber formulations used for these components.
Our scientists and engineers in the Thermal Sciences and Mechanical Engineering practices have broad experience in both in situ measurement of drilling string pressures, temperatures, and flow rates, as well as extensive experience using computational modeling to study and predict the conditions seen in these harsh drilling environments.

Exponent's Impact

Exponent's analysis supported the conclusion that another party had used our client's trade secret rubber formulation without their consent and that the information they derived could not have been gained from the public domain, past knowledge, or reverse engineering of the product. Our experts' extensive knowledge of the oil and gas industry, as well as the rubber formulating process, was critical in demonstrating that the competitor's time to market, formulation development efforts, and commercialized rubber products were simply not feasible but for the misuse of protected trade secret information.

What Can We Help You Solve?

Exponent provides rigorous technical support for high-stakes intellectual property claims. When it comes to issues pertaining to materials and trade secrets, we are skilled at deconstructing complex technical information and scenarios, helping you understand the facts and move forward with confidence.