Your Trade Secrets Are Already at Risk: Litigation-Ready Defense Against AI Scraping, Prompt Injection, and Reverse Engineering

Mr. Pooley holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia University Law School (1973) and a Bachelor of Arts, with honors, from Lafayette College (1970). He is admitted to practice in California and has served as adjunct professor of law, teaching trade secret law at UC Berkeley School of Law for many years.

Mr. Pooley's contributions to intellectual property law have earned him the field's highest honors. In 2016, he was inducted into the IP Hall of Fame — the first trade secret specialist to receive the distinction. In 2017, Managing Intellectual Property honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and he subsequently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Sedona Conference for his foundational work in trade secret jurisprudence. His leadership has shaped the profession at the national and international levels. He served as President of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the first trade secret specialist elected to lead the organization. He also served as Chairman of the selection board of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, founding Chair (now Chair Emeritus) of The Sedona Conference Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets, and Co-Chair of the Trade Secret Task Force of the International Chamber of Commerce. From 2009 to 2014, Mr. Pooley held the position of Deputy Director General for Innovation and Technology at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, where he managed the international patent system (PCT) and oversaw a staff of more than 400 professionals from 60 countries.

Mr. Pooley is actively engaged in advancing trade secret law and policy worldwide. He was instrumental in the passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA), having helped draft the legislation and provided expert testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He continues to serve as Co-Chair of the ICC Trade Secret Task Force and remains involved with The Sedona Conference as Chair Emeritus of Working Group 12. He is an active lecturer, keynote speaker, and commentator on trade secret and intellectual property developments, frequently contributing to legal publications and industry forums.

Mr. Pooley has served as primary counsel on more than 200 trade secret matters and approximately 25 patent cases over the course of his career. As a senior partner at several prominent law firms, he built a nationally recognized practice in trade secret and patent litigation. His successful jury defense of Adobe Systems as lead trial counsel in the first major software patent case tried to verdict was selected by the National Law Journal as the only intellectual property case among its Top Defense Verdicts of 1997. In 2003, California Lawyer named him Lawyer of the Year in recognition of a $90 million technology copyright settlement he secured on behalf of ESS Technology. Mr. Pooley is a prolific author whose works are considered essential references for judges, lawyers, and business professionals. His treatise Trade Secrets (Law Journal Press), updated semi-annually, is the leading practitioner's desk reference in the field. He co-authored the Patent Case Management Judicial Guide and the Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide, both published by the Federal Judicial Center. His business book Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage — now in its second edition (2024) and translated into Mandarin by Tsinghua University Press — addresses the escalating challenges of protecting corporate information in a hyperconnected world. He also conceived and scripted an instructional patent video shown to juries throughout the United States. Today, Mr. Pooley operates a private practice focused on litigation strategy, expert witnessing, arbitration, and information security counseling, continuing to provide seasoned, independent guidance on the most complex and consequential trade secret matters.