How Employee AI Use Destroys Trade Secret Protection: DTSA Plaintiff and Defense Practice After Trinidad

Peter J. Toren, Intellectual Property Litigator and Advisor | Peter J. Toren

Peter J. Toren is an intellectual property litigator and advisor dedicated to helping individuals and companies protect their IP rights, with a particular focus on trade secrets, computer crime, and economic espionage. A former federal prosecutor who helped build the U.S. Department of Justice’s earliest computer crime program; Peter brings a rare combination of government enforcement experience and private-practice advocacy to high-stakes intellectual property matters. He is widely regarded as a leading authority on the criminal dimensions of IP law and is the author of the foremost treatise in the field.

• Education & Credentials

Peter holds a certificate from Stanford University in the Technical Fundamentals of Generative Artificial Intelligence, reflecting his commitment to staying at the forefront of the technologies that increasingly shape intellectual property disputes. He has practiced as a partner at several prominent law firms, including Sidley Austin in New York City, and earlier served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice.

• Recognition & Leadership

Peter was among the first five prosecutors appointed to the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) in Washington, D.C., where he rose to serve as Acting Deputy Chief. He served as lead attorney on the first case ever to go to trial under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, a landmark in the enforcement of trade secret law. He has authored more than 125 articles across a range of legal topics and received an award for excellence in legal publishing.

• Professional Involvement

Peter is a co-leader of The Sedona Conference’s Criminal Trade Secret Law Brainstorming Team, contributing to the development of thought leadership and best practices in the field. He is a co-author of the Trade Secret Case Management Guide (2023), published by the Federal Judicial Center, and the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 Handbook, published by Wolters Kluwer. A frequent contributor to the press, he is regularly sought out for commentary on intellectual property, computer crime, and trade secret matters.

• Experience

Peter’s career spans both the prosecution and defense of the most complex intellectual property and computer crime matters. As a federal prosecutor in CCIPS, he handled numerous cases involving violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, criminal copyright infringement, trafficking in counterfeit goods, and the Economic Espionage Act—including serving as lead attorney on the first EEA case to reach trial. In private practice, he has represented companies and individuals in EEA criminal investigations and litigated numerous matters under the Defend Trade Secrets Act. He is the author of the leading treatise on criminal violations of intellectual property rights and computer crime, Intellectual Property & Computer Crime, first published by Full Court Press in 2003, which remains a definitive resource for practitioners, prosecutors, and courts. Across his work, Peter pairs deep substantive knowledge with practical, results-oriented counsel to help clients safeguard their most valuable intellectual property assets.

Benjamin I. Fink, President & Founding Shareholder | Berman Fink Van Horn P.C

Benjamin I. Fink is president and a founding shareholder of Berman Fink Van Horn P.C. in Atlanta, where his practice centers on business and commercial litigation with a particular emphasis on competition-related disputes, including noncompete and trade secret matters. A nationally recognized authority on restrictive covenants and trade secret law, Benjamin pairs deep substantive knowledge with extensive courtroom experience, having tried cases in state and federal courts across Georgia and more than fifteen other states. Clients and peers alike regard him as a leading voice in his field, reflected in his sustained recognition by the profession’s most respected ranking organizations.

• Education & Credentials

Benjamin earned his J.D. from Emory University School of Law and holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University. He is an experienced arbitration practitioner, having handled disputes before the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and he serves as an AAA panelist.

• Recognition & Leadership

Benjamin and his firm were ranked in the Chambers USA Guide 2026 for Labor & Employment. He has been recognized by Super Lawyers since 2005 and has appeared on the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Georgia list every year since 2013. He has been named to Georgia’s Legal Elite since 2012 and selected to The Best Lawyers in America since 2015 and was recently recognized by Best Lawyers as “Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation – Labor and Employment in Georgia. In 2015, he was elected a member of the Litigation Counsel of America. He chaired the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Trade Secrets Committee from 2022 to 2024.

• Professional Involvement

Benjamin is deeply engaged in the trade secret and restrictive covenant bar. In recognition of his thought leadership, he was invited to attend the inaugural Sedona Conference on Developing Best Practices for Trade Secrets Issues in 2017. He served as a Contributing Editor to The Sedona Conference’s Commentary on Protecting Trade Secrets in Litigation About Them and serves on the Steering Committee for The Sedona Conference’s Working Group 12 on trade secrets. He frequently speaks at leading seminars on noncompete and trade secret topics, including the Practicing Law Institute’s annual Non-competes and Restrictive Covenants and Advanced Trade Secrets programs. A longtime member of the Atlanta Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section Board, he currently co-chairs its Judicial Selection & Tenure Committee. He is also a published author who regularly blogs on noncompete and trade secret topics and co-authored a Practical Law Practice Note on Georgia confidentiality, nondisclosure, and non-solicitation agreements for Thomson Reuters.

• Experience

Benjamin’s practice spans the full range of business and commercial litigation, with a concentrated focus on competition-related disputes involving noncompete agreements and trade secrets. He also brings extensive experience to general business and commercial disputes and has built a substantial trial record in state and federal courts in Georgia and across more than fifteen additional states. Beyond the courtroom, he resolves disputes through arbitration before the AAA and FINRA and serves as an AAA panelist, giving clients the benefit of an advocate who understands these forums from both sides. As president and a founding shareholder of Berman Fink Van Horn, he combines this litigation practice with leadership of the firm he helped build.

SESSION 1 – AI in the Workplace: Trade Secret Risks and the New Case Law | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

This session examines how everyday generative AI use jeopardizes trade secret protection, analyzing Trinidad, Snyder, and Heppner to deliver immediate plaintiff- and defense-side strategies for litigating DTSA claims arising from employee ChatGPT use.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Defeating DTSA Claims After Trinidad: Reasonable-Measures Defenses | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

This session equips defense and plaintiff counsel with reasonable-measures defenses, mapping when voluntary AI disclosure destroys trade secret status at pleading and summary judgment, plus discovery targets, motion-practice frameworks, and standards for evaluating AI-use policies