Court Revives SS&C Trade Secrets Suit Against Arcesium
The Second Circuit reversed a lower-court dismissal, allowing claims that Arcesium used confidential Geneva portfolio accounting software to develop competing products to proceed.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Financial Crime
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the dismissal of SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. and Advent Software, Inc. v. Arcesium LLC and remanded the case. The court held that information shared with licensed users under confidentiality restrictions can still qualify as a trade secret.
Why it matters
The ruling clarifies that confidential software shared under license can remain protected as a trade secret and declines to impose a heightened pleading standard for such claims. It allows the Defend Trade Secrets Act claims to advance toward discovery.
The Second Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal and remanded the case under docket No. 25-2049, with the opinion dated November 3, 2026. The complaint alleges Arcesium used confidential Geneva information to build its Trinity and Nautilus products, and those allegations have not yet been tested at trial.
The players
SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc.
A major financial software and services company that provides portfolio accounting and investment management technology to asset managers and financial institutions.
Arcesium LLC
A financial technology firm that develops data and investment operations software for investment managers and banks.
The details
SS&C's Geneva portfolio accounting platform includes executable software, APIs, data models, database structures, and integration-layer components. The complaint alleges Arcesium operated under a hosted reseller agreement with limited Geneva access and cites internal communications discussing Geneva's functionality and efforts to remove references to it from project documentation. The appeals court found the district court improperly weighed competing interpretations of documents, including internal Arcesium emails.
Timeline
November 3, 2026: The Second Circuit issued its opinion reviving the lawsuit.
Legal Context
The ruling applies the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 to licensed enterprise software, holding that confidentiality restrictions on disclosed information can preserve trade secret status. It rejects a heightened specificity requirement at the pleading stage, which may make it easier for software companies to bring misappropriation claims against competitors.
Companies that license proprietary software to clients may face clearer legal protection for confidential code and data shared under contract. Clients using such platforms should expect that licensing terms and confidentiality restrictions will be more vigorously enforced in disputes.
The takeaway
Confidentiality agreements attached to licensed software can carry real legal weight, so businesses that share proprietary tools with partners should document restrictions clearly.
Further reading
For more on related cases, see Financial Crime coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Vitallaw.
