Richard Watson v. H.J. Heinz Co. (Fed. Cir. June 8, 2004) (nonprecedential opinion)
In this trade secret case, the appellate panel held that Watson had no legal standing to sue Heinz for allegedly stealing his “trap cap” design for squeeze bottles of ketchup. Watson had filed for bankruptcy and not listed any trade secrets as assets. The court found that any property rights in the trade secret passed to the bankruptcy estate and no longer belong to Watson.