Trade Secrets

Keeping trade secrets just that -- secret -- can make or break the success of a company. We have written in this space extensively about ways to keep a business's trade secrets safely away from the public or from competitors. One of those is to write ironclad...

At our law firm, we advise California clients in the restaurant industry like owners and chefs about how to protect their valuable intellectual property. After all, food professionals invest significant creativity as well as money into their livelihoods. After...

In recent posts, we have discussed the difficulty of protecting trade secrets in this age of rapidly advancing technology. It is easier than ever for an employee or contractor to digitally abscond with valuable commercial secrets. On August 10, a Superior Court...

In recent posts, we have been discussing the nature of trade secrets, the importance of nondisclosure policies and agreements with employees and business partners, and the remedies provided under California law for trade-secret misappropriation. One of the reasons...

Today we continue our discussion of trade secrets. Specifically, we will look more closely at what California statute says about trade secret misappropriation. California adopted its own version of the Uniform Trade Secret Act in 1984, with later amendments. Uniform...

In our competitive markets, businesses often attribute actual or future commercial success to important information or processes unknown to competitors: trade secrets. California statute defines a trade secret as “information, including a formula, pattern,...

At our law firm, we advocate for clients with ownership interests in trade secrets, meaning private information confidentially held that has economic or commercial value to the owner. Think, for example, of a manufacturing technique or chemical formula. We use a...

Businesses both small and large want to protect the information or know-how that is crucial to their financial success and sustained future. Sometimes this information is in the public sphere, but protected by law. In other situations, the information is kept...

Speed matters. We see it in the debate over internet neutrality. No one wants to be left in the dust. In business, the need for speed is especially important in protecting trade secrets. Information zips around the world in the blink of an eye and if that information...

Never underestimate the power of inventorship. That could prove to be one moral of a story that is unfolding in a trade secret dispute in the optical industry. At the heart of the case is one telehealth company's claim that it's been the victim of trade secret theft...