Trade Secret Theft Investigations in Florida

Practical brief for Florida attorneys and paralegals handling suspected trade secret theft.

Suspected trade secret theft rarely announces itself with a complete record. A key employee leaves, a competitor launches a similar product, or a customer relationship moves, and counsel is asked to decide quickly whether the facts support a claim and what should be preserved. A licensed investigator does not replace forensic imaging of company devices or the legal analysis of the statute. The investigator’s role is to develop the facts outside the company’s own systems — who went where, what is being offered in the market, and what can be documented lawfully.

This article explains how that work is typically scoped for counsel in Orlando and elsewhere in Florida. It is not legal advice. Counsel evaluates Florida’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Chapter 688, Florida Statutes, and any related agreements. We develop facts that counsel can use.

When counsel usually brings in an investigator

The most common trigger is a departure. A salesperson, engineer or manager resigns, and within days or weeks a competitor seems to know pricing, a customer list, or a process that was not public. Sometimes the concern is not a person but a vendor, a joint-venture partner, or a bidder who had limited access to confidential material. In each situation, the company may already have access logs, emails and device images. Those materials often cannot show what is happening outside the building: a new entity, a storefront, a sales pitch, or a product appearing in the market.

Open-source pages, listings and physical activity change, so counsel who want field documentation usually ask for it early, even before a lawsuit is filed. The investigator should take direction from the law firm so the scope stays tied to the legal theory counsel is considering.

What a trade secret theft investigation can document

The assignment should start with a precise question, such as: Where did this person go, and what are they doing? Is a competing product being offered, and by whom? Who is associated with the new business? Typical work includes:

• Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) filings, fictitious names, officers, registered agents and related entities.
• Professional licenses, business tax records and other public registrations that show a new operation.
• Open-source research: websites, social-media business pages, marketplace listings, job postings and announcements that can be captured and dated.
• Field observation of public activity — for example, who is working at a location, what is being delivered or displayed, or whether a subject is meeting with known customers in public places.
• Locating and, when counsel authorizes it, interviewing former colleagues, vendors or other witnesses who may have firsthand observations.
• A timeline that ties public facts to dates already in the company’s internal record.

Each of those steps has to stay inside the law. Pretexting for financial records, trespass, unlawful recording and improper access to accounts are not part of a professional assignment. If a method would create a problem for counsel later, it should not be used now.

Field work and internal records are different jobs

Device imaging, email collection and network-log review usually belong to the company’s IT staff or a digital forensics examiner working under counsel. A private investigator may coordinate with that work — for example, by using a date from a badge log to plan when to observe a location — but the investigator should not be treated as a substitute for a forensic exam of the company’s own systems.

What field investigation can add is context. A public product demonstration, a new office, a vehicle registered to a newly formed company, or a witness who saw a pitch to a former customer may fill a gap that the server logs cannot. The report should separate what was observed, what was taken from a public record, and what a witness said, so counsel can decide what is useful for a demand letter, an injunction hearing or a later discovery plan.

Attorneys in Orlando who already work with a private investigator Orlando team on business matters can fold this into broader trade secret and IP theft investigations or corporate investigations in Orlando when the issue sits inside a wider corporate dispute.

How to brief the investigator

The quality of the first week depends on the quality of the briefing. Counsel or a paralegal should provide:

• The names and last known contact information of the people involved, and any new employer or company already suspected.
• A description, at a high level, of the information believed to be at risk. The investigator does not need the secret itself; the investigator needs enough to recognize it if it appears in public.
• Dates of resignation, last access, customer losses or product launches.
• Copies of public filings or screenshots the firm already has, so work is not repeated.
• Hard limits: no contact with represented parties, no approach to certain employees, no recording, or no discussion of the technical details of the information.
• The deadline — often a hearing date or a decision on whether to send a demand letter.

A phased scope is often enough: identify the new business and the people around it first, then decide whether field observation or interviews are justified.

What the report should give counsel

A useful report is factual and sourced. It should say what was done, when, and where the information came from. Photographs and screen captures should be dated. If something could not be confirmed, the report should say so. Counsel can then match those facts against the legal elements they are evaluating under Chapter 688 and any contract claims.

FAQ: trade secret theft investigations

Can an investigator prove that a trade secret was stolen?

An investigator can document facts that counsel may use to evaluate a claim. Whether information qualifies as a trade secret, and whether it was misappropriated, are legal questions for the attorney and, if the case is filed, for the court.

Should we wait until after we file suit?

Not always. Public activity and online listings can change quickly. Counsel should decide the timing. Early, lawful documentation is often useful even if a complaint is still being drafted.

Do you work only in Orlando?

No. We are based in Central Florida and work throughout the state. Orlando counsel frequently ask us to check activity in other Florida cities when a former employee or a competitor has moved.

Will the other side know you are involved?

Field work is done discreetly and lawfully. Some work, such as an on-the-record interview, is overt by design. Counsel should say in advance which contacts, if any, are authorized.

Talk to an investigator

If a departure, a competing product or a customer loss has raised a trade secret concern, call us to discuss a scoped investigation. We work with attorneys and paralegals on private investigator Orlando matters and statewide.

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This article is general information for attorneys and legal professionals. It is not legal advice, and decisions about privilege, admissibility and legal strategy belong to counsel.