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Prize Contest

Law Science and Innovation/Intellectual Property Program Prize Contest

ASU Law selects inaugural Law Science and Innovation/Intellectual Property Program Prize Contest winners

Graves and Katyal win for their article ‘From Trade Secrecy to Seclusion’

Providing an insightful and alarming analysis on the evolving use of trade secrecy laws to conceal vital information from the public, Charles Graves and Sonia Katyal have been selected as the 2022 Law Science and Innovation/Intellectual Property Program Prize Contest recipients  by the Center for Law Science and Innovation (LSI) and the Intellectual Property (IP) Law program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

The Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law is sponsoring a Distinguished Lecturer Reception with a plenary presentation by the co-authors on their prize-winning article at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington D.C. on December 9, 2022. The featured speaker of the event is The McCarthy Laureate, The Honorable Kent A. Jordan from the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Charles Graves
Charles Graves, Wilson Sonsini law firm and University of California Hastings College of the Law

“Academic scholarship is the bedrock of developing Intellectual Property laws that support and serve our nation. ASU Law created this prize to reward and inspire scholarship in IP to advance this vital area of law.” Tyson Winarski, IP Professor at ASU Law. “Academic scholarship is the bedrock of developing Intellectual Property laws that support and serve our nation. ASU Law created this prize to reward and inspire scholarship in IP to advance this vital area of law.” Tyson Winarski, IP Professor at ASU Law.

In their article, “From Trade Secrecy to Seclusion,” Graves and Katyal dramatically illustrate how trade secrecy laws – traditionally used to protect intellectual property from misappropriation – have expanded against public disclosures for journalists and whistleblowers, government usages of private technologies for Artificial Intelligence and automated decision-making, as well as diversity and workplace harms in the labor and employment field.

“We’re very excited to receive ASU’s 2022 LSI/IP article award for From Trade Secrecy to Seclusion,” said Graves and Katyal in a joint statement. “Research and commentary on trade secret law has come a long way in the past two decades.” “We’re very excited to receive ASU’s 2022 LSI/IP article award for From Trade Secrecy to Seclusion,” said Graves and Katyal in a joint statement. “Research and commentary on trade secret law has come a long way in the past two decades.” 

Graves is a partner with the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. Katyal is the Haas distinguished chair and co-associate dean for research at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.

Sonia Katyal
Sonia Katyal, University of California Berkeley School of Law

In addition to receiving the prize and giving this plenary presentation, Graves and Katyal will be presented with a $10,000 award for their winning article.

“Indeed, we want to recognize the growing body of work by trade secret scholars – including Jamillah Bowman Williams, Rebecca Wexler, Deepa Varadarajan and Camilla Hrdy – which inspired and helped inform our policy recommendations,” Graves and Katyal said. “At the same time, the spread of trade secret claims across a host of litigation and regulatory contexts means that there are growing problems in need of attention. We hope that our work influences others to push for recognition of the public policy interests at stake in so many of these disputes.” 

In addition to receiving the prize and giving this plenary presentation, Graves and Katyal will be presented with a $10,000 award for their winning article.

“Indeed, we want to recognize the growing body of work by trade secret scholars – including Jamillah Bowman Williams, Rebecca Wexler, Deepa Varadarajan and Camilla Hrdy – which inspired and helped inform our policy recommendations,” Graves and Katyal said. “At the same time, the spread of trade secret claims across a host of litigation and regulatory contexts means that there are growing problems in need of attention. We hope that our work influences others to push for recognition of the public policy interests at stake in so many of these disputes.” 

ASU Law gratefully acknowledges and thanks the four academic judges who diligently reviewed all of the submissions to determine the ultimate winner:

  • Rebecca Tushnet, Frank Stanton Professor of First Amendment Law at Harvard Law School
  • David L. Schwartz, Frederic P. Vose Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Research & Intellectual Life at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
  • Peter S. Menell, Koret Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
  • Mark P. McKenna, Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Ziffren Institute at UCLA School of Law

In 2021, the IP Law program at ASU Law became the new home for the renowned McCarthy Institute, one of the nation’s most preeminent groups on IP law, and its distinguished director, Professor David Franklyn

The ASU Law LSI and IP Law Program Prize is designed to inspire academic research from faculty in the field of IP law. ASU Law's LSI and IP Law program offered this inaugural annual prize in celebration of the McCarthy Institute. 

The McCarthy Institute was co-founded by J. Thomas McCarthy, the world-renowned author of the multi-volume treatise, “McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition Law,” which has been cited in over 7,000 judicial opinions.

The IP Law program is also home to the Lisa Foundation Patent Law Clinic, which is among the oldest patent law clinics in the U.S., along with the Jurimetrics Law Journal, the official journal of the American Bar Association’s Section of Official Journal of Science and Technology Law.

For questions related to the LSI/IP Program Prize, the ASU Law event on December 8, 2022, or the ASU Law’s LSI and IP programs, please reach out to Tyson Winarski, ASU IP Law professor, at Tyson.Winarski@asu.edu or David Franklyn, Executive Director of the McCarthy Institute and Professor at ASU Law at David.Franklyn@asu.edu