Ever heard the term “trade secret”? If so, you probably thought it was some fun espionage slang. Actually, it’s a legal intellectual property term, as Tom Jurgensen point out. The managing shareholder of Catalyst Law Group, APC, a technology-focused law firm headquartered in San Diego, he explains here what trade secrets are all about…
A trade secret is what is sounds like. It’s a business secret that is of high value, and the only way it remains protected is to keep it secret from the general public.
A trade secret can be a lot of different things. It can be a special way to make a product or a process, it can be something that is done behind the scenes with a computer, or a special program the public does not get its hands on. It can even be a customer list which is a trade secret for a lot of people.
A lot of things like that are trade secrets. They are not like the other three forms of intellectual property - patents, copyrights and trademarks - as you do not register them with the government, the whole idea is to keep them secret.
Procedures in Place
What is important when it comes to a trade secret is the procedures you have in place to keep it secret, that is the most important thing. It is limiting who has access to your company’s trade secrets to the only people who need access to them. And it is having strong agreements, restrictive agreements, with the people who do have access to make sure nothing is ever leaked.
If your trade secret has something to do with what you are doing in manufacturing, you should restrict who gets in there and screen off the parts that are secret, if you can, so people cannot see what is going on. It’s a way to have careful protection, and ensure that you doing everything you can to protect yourself, within reason.
Get a Lawyer
The lawyer makes sure you are doing that right, that all the right agreements and provisions are in place, and that you are aware of what is sufficient and what is not.
But what happens if somebody steals your secrets? You have to go after them right away in court to keep them from giving them away. If they put it out there, if they publish it and your secret is gone, there is no way to get it back. All you can do then is get damages from the party who did that.
Here is a little bit of lore. The most famous trade secret was reportedly the formula for Coca-Cola. Supposedly, only two or three people at any one time know that formula. Otherwise it is kept under lock and key.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.
