Washington's pattern instructions frame the plaintiff's burden as four elements: (1) the existence of a trade secret; (2) misappropriation by the defendant; (3) proximate causation of damages; and (4) receipt by the defendant of money or benefits that in justice and fairness belong to the plaintiff. 6A Wash. Prac., Wash. Pattern Jury Instr. Civ. WPI 351.01 (7th ed.).
The threshold question in nearly every case is the first. As the Supreme Court put it in Boeing, the plaintiff must prove that legally protectable secrets exist. 108 Wn.2d at 49.