Valuable Trade Secret Asset Protection
A trade secret is any piece of business information with economic value that has been kept confidential. Trade secret protection can extend to information, formulas, codes, methods, practices, and many other items. It’s important to protect the non-public secrets, business methods, and practices that make your business succeed. Many startup businesses invest time and money into making a product even more competitive in the marketplace but fail to recognize the risk in a former employee sharing the results of that hard work with his or her next employer. Our attorneys can help you put in place a system that is designed to (1) identify trade secrets, (2) establish policies and best practices for your employees, and (3) enforce those agreements to prevent unauthorized sharing of your valuable trade secret assets with your competitors.
Step One – It begins by keeping your information confidential.
A trade secret is valuable only so long as you can keep the information out of the public’s eye. Businesses need to have a comprehensive system of confidentiality agreements signed by employees and consultants to ensure the secret being developed is not leaked to a competitor. Of course, if you’re showing the product to the public at a trade show and freely discussing your ideas with others, then you’re no longer able to claim what you shared is a trade secret.
Step Two – Mark it!
Many cases depend on whether the owner of the trade secret took the time to stamp confidential documents as “confidential” or otherwise designate the importance of the information within a company. Every fact pattern is different.
Protection of Your Trade Secrets
Rose Law Firm attorneys have represented clients in tough cases involving theft of trade secrets. Sometimes the allegations involve former employees while other claims involve actual taking of information from a competitor.