![]() Trade secret theft by insiders leaves employers vulnerable in the marketplace, threatening to destroy their hard-earned competitive advantage. ![]() This scenario is becoming increasingly commonplace. Worse yet, they have joined a competitor in a similar role. A week later, the company finds out its trusted former colleague has taken a cache of documents, including client lists, pricing information and vendor contacts. The company grows over time and just as it is about to become public, the employee abruptly gives notice. The employee works alongside the founders for years, gaining a front-row seat to every aspect of the business and enjoying unfettered access to critical proprietary information. Two founders hire their first employee to help develop a key component of their product. María Amelia Calaf of Wittliff Cutter explains the nuances of the law and discusses how businesses can prevent misappropriation of valuable trade secrets. Any documents or items that contain trade secrets should be conspicuously marked “confidential.” The policy regarding trade secrets should be clearly articulated in the company handbook, and measures should be taken to restrict access to the trade secrets, such as by issuing employee badges or installing locks and passwords.A relatively new law (the Defend Trade Secrets Act) aims to give businesses a legal framework to fight against theft of trade secrets by insiders. These agreements can include clauses that restrain employees from working on confidential information from their home computers. Anyone to whom the trade secret must be disclosed should have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and when possible, a non-compete agreement. In general, disclosure of trade secrets should be limited to a need-to-know basis. Some companies wonder what the court considers “reasonable” efforts to guard trade secrets. A competitor can lawfully use independent discovery, acquire a trade secret through an accidental disclosure based on the trade secret owner’s failure to reasonably guard the secret, or use reverse engineering. It may be acquired improperly, or it may involve a breach of confidence. There are two types of illegal appropriation of a trade secret.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |