Helping You Protect Your Trade Secrets

Trade secrets are confidential pieces of information that are essential to the success of a business. They can include things like client lists, manufacturing processes, financial data, and marketing strategies. Trade secrets are not generally known to the public and provide a competitive advantage to the company that owns them. Protecting these valuable assets is often essential to maintaining a company’s profitability and long-term success.

Trade secrets are one of the few types of intellectual property governed by state law rather than federal law. Although 47 states have adopted a uniform law called the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA), New York is one of two states that have not. Instead, New York’s trade secrets law derives from common law.

Under New York common law, a trade secret is a formula, process, device, or compilation used in business and allows the business to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it. Examples of famous trade secrets include the formula for Coca-Cola, the secret blend of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s herbs and spices, the Google search algorithm, and the process for being on the New York Times Bestseller list.

Trade Secret Services

When a valid trade secret has been established, the harm to the trade secret owner is when a competitor acquires the trade secret by improper means; for example, theft, bribery, misrepresentation, etc., or acquires the trade secret from someone the competitor knows has acquired the trade secret by improper means. This type of theft is known as “misappropriation.”

How We Can Help You Protect Your Trade Secrets

Trade secrets are one of the few types of intellectual property in which prevention, rather than punishment, is the best protection. Think about a trade secret from a purely business standpoint. Once the trade secret is discovered, you can legally punish the person who stole or disclosed it, but the secret is likely no longer a secret. To try and put the cat in the bag is almost impossible. That’s why protecting trade secrets can be so crucial to a company’s operations.

Our attorneys are experienced in trade secrets laws and provide a range of services to protect your proprietary information. Some of our services include:

• Trade Secret Identification and Protection – we work with clients to help identify their trade secrets and develop strategies to protect them from disclosure or theft.
• Non-Disclosure Agreements – we assist clients with NDAs to help ensure that employees, contractors, and third parties do not disclose confidential information and trade secrets.
• Litigation/Dispute Resolutions – we zealously litigate to protect our clients’ rights, whether in court or in alternative forums, such as mediation or arbitration.

We also help clients through trade secret audits. A skilled and experienced intellectual property attorney will come to your office and assess your current level of protection and identify areas for improvement.

Let an Experienced Intellectual Property Attorney Help You Protect Your Trade Secrets

Your trade secrets may be the very heartbeat of your business. We understand the importance of trade secrets to your success and are dedicated to helping you maintain and protect them. Contact us today, and we’ll start informing you on how to protect your valuable business secrets.