1. Except to the extent that a material and prejudicial change of a person‘s position occurs prior to acquiring knowledge of a misappropriation and renders a monetary recovery inequitable, an owner of a trade secret is entitled to recover damages for the misappropriation. Damages may include the actual loss caused by the misappropriation, and the unjust enrichment caused by the misappropriation which is not taken into account in computing the actual loss. In lieu of damages measured by any other methods, the damages caused by misappropriation may be measured by imposition of liability for a reasonable royalty for a person’s unauthorized disclosure or use of a trade secret.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 550.4

  • Account: means the same as defined in section 554. See Iowa Code 554E.1
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • knowledge: means that a person has actual knowledge of information or a circumstance or that the person has reason to know of the information or circumstance. See Iowa Code 550.2
  • Misappropriation: means doing any of the following:
  • person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Trade secret: means information, including but not limited to a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process that is both of the following:
 2. If a person commits a willful and malicious misappropriation, the court may award exemplary damages in an amount not exceeding twice the award made under subsection 1.