What is improper acquisition?

Improper acquisition, a form of trade secret misappropriation, is where someone knows that some information or product is your trade secret and they take it without your permission. This constitutes trade secret misappropriation even if they do not later use or disclose the trade secret - simply taking it without permission creates liability.

Of course, there are also ways to properly acquire protected information, such as by licensing the information, reverse engineering it or independently creating it.