Elizabeth A. Rowe

  • Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation Professor of Law
  • Horace W. Goldsmith Research Professor of Law

Elizabeth Rowe is an internationally renowned expert on trade secret law, intellectual property, trademark and patent law, and corporate espionage. She joined the UVA Law faculty in 2022 after serving as the Irving Cyphen Professor of Law and a Distinguished Teaching Scholar at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she was director of the program in intellectual property law.

She is the co-author of the first and leading U.S. casebook on trade secrets, in addition to a “Nutshell” treatise on trade secrets. Much of her research addresses the intersection of trade secrets with employment law and/or technology, as well as the interplay between intellectual property, government policy and innovation. Four of Rowe’s articles have been named by Thomson Reuters Intellectual Property Review as among the best intellectual property articles of the year: “Revisiting Trade Secret Extraterritoriality” (2019), “Unpacking Trade Secret Damages” (2017), “Trade Secrets, Trade, and Extraterritoriality” (2014) and “Trade Secret Litigation and Free Speech: Is it Time to Restrain the Plaintiffs?” (2009).

Her most recent co-authored book addresses trade secrecy in international transactions. The book has been praised for its “remarkable contribution to the understanding of the legal foundations and main features of trade secret law” of eight countries.

Rowe is a member of the American Law Institute and a member of the Leadership Council for The Sedona Conference, which conducts in-depth study in the areas of antitrust, complex litigation and intellectual property rights to provide nonpartisan consensus-based guidance to courts and attorneys. She also is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Rowe is a frequent invited speaker at national conferences on intellectual property and also serves as an expert consultant in litigation. She is a former partner at the law firm of Hale and Dorr in Boston (now WilmerHale), where she practiced complex commercial litigation, including intellectual property and employment litigation. While in practice, she was selected as one of the top five up-and-coming attorneys in Massachusetts.

Rowe has been recognized by the University of Florida Research Foundation for her “outstanding research and scholarly achievements.” She was the first member of the Florida law faculty inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars for her exceptional teaching and scholarship accomplishments. She has also received the Jack Wessel Research Excellence Award from the University of Florida’s Office of the Provost. 

Education

  • J.D.
    Harvard Law School
    1996
  • M.A.
    University of Florida
    1993
  • B.A.
    University of Florida
    1992

Forthcoming

Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide (with Peter S. Menell et al.), Federal Judicial Center (2023).

Works in Progress

Academic Economic Espionage? (2024).

Textbooks

Selected Intellectual Property, Internet, and Information Law, Statutes, Regulations, and Treaties (with Sharon K. Sandeen), West Academic (2022 ed. 2022).
Selected Intellectual Property, Internet, and Information Law Statutes, Regulations, and Treaties (with Sharon K. Sandeen), West Academic (2021 ed. 2021).
Trade Secret Law: Cases and Materials (with Sharon K. Sandeen), West Academic (3 ed. 2020).
Trade Secret Law in a Nutshell (with Sharon K. Sandeen), West Academic (2 ed. 2017).
Trade Secret Law: Cases and Materials (with Sharon K. Sandeen), West Academic (2 ed. 2016).
Trade Secrecy and International Transactions (with Sharon K. Sandeen), Edward Elgar Publishing (2015).
Trade Secrets and Undisclosed Information (edited with Sharon K. Sandeen), Edward Elgar Publishing (2014).
Trade Secret Law in a Nutshell (with Sharon K. Sandeen), West Academic (1 ed. 2013).
Cases and Materials on Trade Secret Law (with Sharon K. Sandeen), West Academic (1 ed. 2012).

Book Chapters

The DTSA and Trade Secret Extraterritoriality (with Giulia C. Farrior), in Research Handbook on Information Law and Governance, Edward Elgar Publishing, 217–233 (2021).
Introduction (with Sharon K. Sandeen), in Trade Secrets and Undisclosed Information, Edward Elgar Publishing (2014).
Dangers from the Inside: Employees as Threats to Trade Secrets, in Harboring Data: Information Security, Law, and the Corporation, Stanford University Press, 92–99 (2009).
The Challenge of Protecting Trade Secret Information in a Digital World, in Intellectual Property Protection of Fact-based Works : Copyright and Its Alternatives, Edward Elgar, 269 (2009).

Articles & Reviews

Procuring Algorithmic Transparency (with Nyja Prior), 74 Alabama Law Review 303–363 (2022).
Regulating Facial Recognition Technology in the Private Sector, 24 Stanford Technology Law Review 1–54 (2020).
eBay, Permanent Injunctions, and Trade Secrets, 77 Washington and Lee Law Review 553 (2020).
Revisiting Trade Secret Extraterritoriality (with Giulia Farrior), 25 Boston University Journal of Science and Technology Law 431–450 (2019).
Snapshot of Trade Secret Developments, 60 William and Mary Law Review 45 (2019).
Sharing Data, 104 Iowa Law Review 287 (2018).
Unpacking Trade Secret Damages, 55 Houston Law Review 156–198 (2017).
Debating Non-Competes and Trade Secrets (with Sharon K. Sandeen), 33 Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal 438 (2017).
Symposium, Understanding the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA): The Federalization of Trade Secrecy (with David H. Green, James H. A. Pooley & Ryan Calo), 50 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 331–364 (2017).
RATs, TRAPs, and Trade Secrets, 57 Boston College Law Review 381 (2016).
Trade Secrets, Trade, and Extraterritoriality (with Daniel M. Mahfood), 66 Alabama Law Review 63–104 (2014).
Intellectual Property and Employee Selection, 48 Wake Forest Law Review 25 (2013).
Patents, Genetically Modified Food, and IP Overreaching, 64 Southern Methodist University Law Review 859–894 (2011).
Striking a Balance: When Should Trade Secret Law Shield Disclosures to the Government?, 96 Iowa Law Review 791 (2010).
Trade Secrets, Data Security and Employees, 84 Chicago-Kent Law Review 749–756 (2010).
Trade Secret Litigation and Free Speech: Is it Time to Restrain the Plaintiffs?, 50 Boston College Law Review 1425–1455 (2009).
A Sociological Approach to Misappropriation, 58 University of Kansas Law Review 1–42 (2009).
Contributory Negligence, Technology, and Trade Secrets, 17 George Mason Law Review 1–38 (2009).
Foreward: Technology and Intellectual Property: New Rules for an Old Game?, 14 Journal of Technology Law & Policy 1–4 (2009).
Proposing A Mechanism for Removing Trade Secrets from the Internet, 12 Journal of Internet Law 3–12 (2008).
Introducing a Takedown for Trade Secrets on the Internet, 2007 Wisconsin Law Review 1041–1090 (2007).
Saving Trade Secret Disclosures on the Internet Through Sequential Preservation, 42 Wake Forest Law Review 1–47 (2007).
The Experimental Use Exception to Patent Infringement: Do Universities Deserve Special Treatment?, 57 Hastings Law Journal 921–954 (2006).
When Trade Secrets Become Shackles: Fairness and the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine, 7 Tulane Journal of Technology & Intellectual Property 167 (2005).

Op-Eds, Blogs, Shorter Works

Electronic Discovery: An Overview - Tips From The Trenches (with Joan A. Lukey), American Bar Association (abanet.org) (April, 2001).

Current Courses

Trade Secret Law
Trademark Law

All Courses

Patent Law
Trademark Law
Trade Secret Law

Featured Scholarship