The Importance of Trade Secrets and How to Defend Them James G. Hand University of Mary Abstract This paper explores the issues organizations face when trying to protect trade secrets from being leaked or stolen. The sources used provide background information on the laws that are set up to protect from trade secret theft, what legal course of action they might have, and how to prevent theft. This paper examines their research in order to provide insight into trade secret law and gain an understanding of what an organizations options are to protect itself from losing its coveted secrets. The Importance of Trade Secrets and How to Defend Them Every successful business has something that makes them unique and sets them apart from their Until not too long ago, most trade secrets such as formulas, equations, recipes, etc. were stored in a locked room in a safe or cabinet. As (Almeling, 2012) describes, “a thief would have to gain access to the plant, to the room, and to the file cabinet, Then the thief would have to either take the blueprints or copy them, and loaded down with purloined documents, attempt to smuggle them out of the building”. Now days these types of secrets are typically stored on a computer and encrypted with passwords and access controls in order to prevent theft. But with all the stories that have come out in recent years of organizations being hacked, government secrets being leaked, and customer information being stolen from retailers, organizations need to do more to protect their trade S. (2012). SEVEN REASONS WHY TRADE SECRETS ARE INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 27(2), pp. 1091-1118. Bone, R. G. (2014). The (Still) Shaky Foundations of Trade Secret Law. Texas Law Review, 92(7), pp. 1803-1838. Elliott, S. M. (2007). The threat from within: trade secret theft by employees. Nature Biotechnology, 25(3), pp. 293-295. Evans, M. (2012). Trade Secrets in the Legal Studies Curriculum-A Case Study. Journal Of Legal Studies Education, 29(1), pp. 1-25. Horovitz, S. J. (2009). If You Ain't Cheating You Ain't Trying: "Spygate" and the Legal Implications of Trying Too Hard. exas Intellectual Property Law Journal, 17(2), pp. 305-331. Jennings, M. M. (2016). Business: Its Legal, Ethical, and Global Environment. Boston, MA: Cengage Leanring. Lipton, B. (2011). Trade Secret Law and the Changing Role of Judge and Jury. Yale Law Journal, 120(4), pp. 955-965. Minott, N. (2011). The Economic Espionage Act: is the law all bark and no bite? Information & Communications Technology Law, 20(3), pp. 201-224. Schaller, W. L. (2010). Secrets of the Trade: Tactical and Legal Considerations from the Trade Secret Plaintiff's Perspective. Review Of Litigation, 29(4), pp.
(7) Hall B. Patents and Patent Policy -. 2007. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the Morse H. SETTLEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRIES: ANTITRUST RULES. Allison JR, Lemley MA, Moore KA, Trunkey RD. Valuable patents. Geol.
Confidentiality has several different levels that include employee, management, and business information. Employee data includes personal identifying information, disability and medical information, etc. Keeping this material confidential is important because the information could lead to criminal activity to include fraud or discrimination; this can result in decreased productivity and affect employee morale. Management information covers impending layoffs, terminations, workplace investigation of employee misconduct, etc. It should go without saying that sensitive data should only be available to management. Lastly, the business portion includes business plans, company forecasts, and special ingredients/recipes, information that would not be readily available to competitors. Employees and managers should receive training on how to properly handle confidential information (Jules Halpern Associates, LLC,
McCraw, David, and Stephen Gikow. “The End to a Unspoken Bargain? National Security and Leaks in a Post-Pentagon Papers World.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 48.2 (2013): 473-509. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
Sweeney, B, O'Reilly, J & Coleman, A 2013, Law in Commerce, 5th edition, Lexis Nexis, Australia.
Freedman, Monroe H., and Abbe Smith. Understanding Lawyers' Ethics. New Providence, NJ: LexisNexis, 2010. Print.
With the introduction of the internet being a relatively new phenomenon, the act of cyber espionage is not something that has been properly acknowledged by society. The American Government has done a stand up job of keeping its methods in the shadows and away from the eyes of its people since its documented domestic surveillance began on October 4th, 2001; Twenty three days after the Twin Towers fell President George Bush signed an order to begin a secret domestic eavesdropping operation, an operation which was so sensitive that even many of the country's senior national security officials with the...
This paper offers a summary of the key decisions that led to Edward Snowden leaking files the National Security Agency violating the constitution and this abuse becoming public knowledge in the summer of 2013.
Intellectual Property Law used to only protect art, music, and literature, but because of technological development, Intellectual Property Law now also protects a greater variety of innovations including designs, inventions, symbols, discoveries, and words. The phrase “intellectual property” was first known to be used in the late 1700’s; however, it was not widely talked about, nor was the Intellectual Property Law in actuality commonly implemented. Intellectual Property Rights slowly gained more attention by mid-1800’s after the Industrial Revolution had taken place: more companies were created, competition between corporations became fiercer, and owning unique innovations were crucial to winning the competition. However, as Intellectual Property
Harris, George C. "Testimony for Sale: The Law and Ethics of Snitches and Experts." Pepperdine Law Review (2000-2001): 28. Online.
middle of paper ... ... constitution-to-conduct-domestic-surveillance MacAskill, G. G. (2014, April 28). NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data?guni=Network%20front:network-front%20main-2%20Special%20trail:Network%20front%20-%20special%20trail:Position1 O'NEIL, D. E. (2014, April 20). White House Begins New Effort to Defend Surveillance Program .
Espionage is defined as the act or practice of spying.1 The term ‘industrial espionage’ , also known as ‘corporate espionage’ or ‘cyber espionage’, is the act of stealing trade secrets through the removal, duplicating or recording of highly confidential or valuable information in order to gain a competitive advantage. It is defined as the use of illicit means by more aggressive competitors to disrupt their rival’s operations or gain access to their sensitive information for a better competitive edge.2 While industrial espionage involves the theft of information for commercial purposes, which is obviously illegal, competitive intelligence is the legal gathering of information through conventional practices such as picking up scrap information through attending trade shows or through sources readily available i.e. corporate publications, patent filings and websites.3 Trade secrets are a form of intellectual property thus industrial espionage is most commonly linked with technology-heavy industries, especially in the computer and auto sectors where a great deal of money is splurged on research and development since technological change in this modern era has become a growing importance to business performance.
Whitman, M., & Mattord, H. (2011). Reading & cases in information security: law & ethics. (2011 custom ed., p. 264). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Mullikin, Arwen, and Syed Shawon M. Rahman. "The Ethical Dilemma Of The Usa Government Wiretapping." International Journal of Managing Information Technology 2.4 (2010): 32-39. Print.
The term “trade secret” is often bandied about without a true understanding of what it is and why it is important. Trade secrets are important because they serve to protect your valuable, and often confidential, information from getting into the wrong hands and being used inappropriately. Every entrepreneur can benefit from knowing these important details about trade secrets.
Despite existing laws and privacy enhancing technological methods, the US is progressively taking full advantage of its dominant position not just as the home of companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter but also acknowledging jurisdiction on all websites registered in the US. Therefore, countries such Brazil, Iran, Russia, India and China “are now challenging United States hegemony of the Internet and even calling for the creation of a new governing body to oversee Internet policy” (Brooke, 2012, p.245).