Professor Hrdy travelled to sunny California for the 26th Annual Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute, held on December 4 to 5th, 2026, at Stanford Law School. The subject of this annual conference was developments in patent law. Professor Mark Lemley kicked off the conference with his annual patent law update, which was an engaging as ever. Professor Hrdy was thrilled to return to this event, which was a staple of her Berkeley Law days. She and fellow students used to car pool up to Palo Alto to catch a glimpse of Federal Circuit judges and well-known patent litigators. This time, however, Professor Hrdy was herself a panelist. She spoke on a unique panel for this event called “Hot Topics in Trade Secrets.” Trade secrets are front-and-center these days in light of a new federal trade secret statute and challenges to patent eligibility, which have forced some companies to choose secrecy over obtaining patents. The panel was moderated by Yar Chaikovsky (White & Case), and Professor Hrdy was joined by fellow panelists, Rajiv Patel (Fenwick) and Thomas Sprankling (WilmerHale), pictured below.
The panel was quite lively. Discussed, and heavily debated, were topics such as the Ninth Circuit’s controversial opinion on the proper “identification” standard for claims under the Defend Trade Secrets Act; whether artificial intelligence renders trade secrets “readily ascertainable”; whether a plaintiff can sue to protect a trade secret that they did not develop and may have misappropriated from someone else; how the “discovery rule” applies in assessing whether a plaintiff has timely brought suit under the statute of limitations in trade secret cases; and tricky questions raised in international cases brought against foreign defendants. Professor Hrdy was delighted to learn that co-panelist Tom Sprankling, it turns out, is the co-author (along with his father John Sprankling) of Understanding Trade Secret Law.