Trade Secret

July 24, 2009
Trade Secrets

The precise language by which a trade secret is defined varies by jurisdiction (as do the particular types of information that are subject to trade secret protection). However, there are three factors that, although subject to differing interpretations, are common to all such definitions: a trade secret is information that:

• is not generally known to the public
• confers some sort of economic benefit on its holder (where this benefit must derive specifically from its not being generally known, not just from the value of the information itself)
• is the subject of reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy.

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Discovering a Trade Secret

June 24, 2009
Trade Secrets

Companies often try to discover one another’s trade secrets through lawful methods of reverse engineering on one hand, and potentially unlawful methods including industrial espionage on the other.

Acts of industrial espionage are generally illegal in their own right under the relevant governing laws. The importance of that illegality to trade secret law is as follows: if a trade secret is acquired by improper means (a somewhat wider concept than “illegal means” but inclusive of such means), the secret is generally deemed to have been misappropriated.

Thus if a trade secret has been acquired via industrial espionage, its acquirer will probably be subject to legal liability for acquiring it improperly.

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Reverse engineering

October 29, 2008
Trade Secrets

Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation. It often involves taking something (e.g. a mechanical device, electronic component, or software program) apart and analyzing its workings in detail, used in maintenance or to try to make a new device or program that does the same thing without copying anything from the original. Reverse engineering has its origins in the analysis of hardware for commercial or military advantage. The same techniques are currently being researched for application to legacy software systems, not for industrial or defense ends, but rather to recover incorrect, incomplete, or otherwise unavailable documentation

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Remedies For Misappropriation of a Trade Secret

October 26, 2008
Trade Secrets

According to Dallas employment attorneys, with respect to misappropriation of trade secret litigation matters, an employer can get injunctive relief in the form of a temporary retraining order, a preliminary injunction, and finally a permanent injunction. In the event an employer chooses to go this route, then the employer has to meet a high burden including showing irreparable harm. With respect to money damages, an employer can get actual damages when the improper use of the trade secret leads to economic damages suffered by the employer.

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When does a trade secret exist?

October 15, 2008
Trade Secrets

The holder of the trade secret is nevertheless obliged to protect against such espionage to some degree in order to safeguard the secret. As noted above, under most trade secret rules, a trade secret is not deemed to exist unless its supposed holder takes reasonable steps to maintain its secrecy. Trade secret protection can, in principle, extend indefinitely and in this may offer an advantage over patent protection, which lasts only for a specifically limited period of time. Coca-Cola, the most famous trade secret example, has no patent for its formula and has been very effective in protecting it for many more years than the twenty years of protection that a patent would have provided. In fact, Coca-Cola refused to reveal its trade secret under at least two judges’ orders.

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