Practice Areas - patent prosecution, trademark and copyright registration, trade secret, internet domain names, licensing, intellectual property disputes
Trade secret
Trade secrets are secrets that have independent value derived from the fact that they are secret, and for which adequate precautions have been taken to maintain the secrecy of the trade secret.
Trade secret law differs from copyright, patent and trademark law and therefore requires a specialized knowledge of varying applicable state laws. It is crucial to identify information that is more suited to protection as a trade secret than by patent prosecution, and to take the proper steps to protect information that provides your competitive advantage. Failure to take the necessary steps can result in your competitors benefiting from valuable knowledge that you developed through your investment of time and expense.
The decision of whether to protect valuable technology through patent protection or through trade secret protection must be evaluated on a case by case basis. Trade secret protection does not prevent independent discovery of the trade secret by your competitors, or reverse engineering of your products. If you need the best possible protection, and are willing to limit the term of protection to the 20 year (from application filing date) term of a patent, then you should not rely on trade secret protection. However, if your technology would be difficult to reverse engineer, and if you need protection beyond the 20 year term of a patent, then trade secret protection should be considered.
I have the experience necessary assist in the decision between patent protection and trade secret protection. Once a decision to utilize trade secret protection is made, I have the experience to ensure your trade secrets are properly guarded, and to assist you with trade secret litigation if necessary to protect your business from trade secret infringement.
To maximize the value of my services to my clients, all projects receive my personal attention. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your trade secret questions and needs.