Protecting Trade Secrets in the US US Trade Secret Law State Law. Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) What is a Trade Secret Information … Independent economic value Not generally known or readily ascertainable Reasonable efforts to maintain secrecy technical & non-technical physical & electronic combinations

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US US Trade Secret Law State Law. Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) What is a Trade Secret Information … Independent economic value Not generally known or readily ascertainable Reasonable efforts to maintain secrecy actual or potential to owner and others

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US US Trade Secret Law State Law. Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) What is a Trade Secret Information … Independent economic value Not generally known or readily ascertainable Reasonable efforts to maintain secrecy secret not “absolutely” secret

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US US Trade Secret Law State Law. Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) What is a Trade Secret Information … Independent economic value Not generally known or readily ascertainable Reasonable efforts to maintain secrecy internal & external secrecy nature & value of information

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US US Trade Secret Law State Law. Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) Misappropriation of Trade Secrets (TS) Acquisition of TS and know or have reason to know it was acquired by improper means, or

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US US Trade Secret Law State Law. Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) Misappropriation of Trade Secrets (TS) Use or disclosure of a TS by person who used improper means to acquire knowledge of TS, or knew or had reason to know TS was: ° derived by improper means, ° derived from/through person with duty to protect, or ° acquired in manner creating a duty to protect, or before a material change in position, knew/reason to know it was a TS acquired by accident or mistake

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US US Trade Secret Law Enforcing Trade Secret Rights Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Enforcing Trade Secret Rights Enforcement Authorities Protecting Trade Secrets in Litigation

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Enforcing Trade Secret Rights Enforcement Authorities State Courts (TS Statute, common law, breach of contract) Legal Relief temporary & permanent injunctions court-ordered affirmative actions Equitable Relief royalties compensatory damages punitive damages Federal Courts (Statute, breach of contract)

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Enforcing Trade Secret Rights Protecting Trade Secrets in Litigation Request protective order during discovery Request in-camera proceedings Courts may seal records Courts may order a person not to disclose alleged trade secrets without court approval Always at risk—hard to “un-ring the bell”

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US US Trade Secret Law Enforcing Trade Secret Rights Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business General Business Practices to Protect TS’s Identify & understand your [key] trade secrets What are your trade secrets? Where are your trade secrets? Why they are valuable? Who knows about them? How are you protecting them?

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business General Business Practices to Protect TS’s Identify & understand your [key] trade secrets What are your trade secrets? Where are your trade secrets? Why they are valuable? Who knows about them? How are you protecting them? what differentiates your products what differentiates your business what is “secret”

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business General Business Practices to Protect TS’s Identify & understand your [key] trade secrets What are your trade secrets? Where are your trade secrets? Why they are valuable? Who knows about them? How are you protecting them? manufacturing/R&D facilities business centers computer systems!

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business General Business Practices to Protect TS’s Identify & understand your [key] trade secrets What are your trade secrets? Where are your trade secrets? Why they are valuable? Who knows about them? How are you protecting them? how much competitive advantage how easy/expensive to protect what is the life span

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business General Business Practices to Protect TS’s Identify & understand your [key] trade secrets What are your trade secrets? Where are your trade secrets? Why they are valuable? Who knows about them? How are you protecting them? how many people “need to know” internally & externally who should “own” them

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business General Business Practices to Protect TS’s Identify & understand your [key] trade secrets What are your trade secrets? Where are your trade secrets? Why they are valuable? Who knows about them? How are you protecting them? responsible parties processes & contracts auditing

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business General Business Practices to Protect TS’s Practical Protection Measures “Reasonable under the circumstances” Processes, documentation & contracts Employees Third parties Business Security (physical & systems) Hide your secrets

Protecting Trade Secrets in the US Trade Secrets as Part of Your Business General Business Practices to Protect TS’s Who is responsible for protection? Everyone is responsible to protect trade secrets Executive leadership should take ultimate responsibility Experienced managers should have direct responsibility Everyone must feel responsible to protect trade secrets