If you think about it, everything starts out as a trade secret, even patents. It is more important to first consider your trade secret strategy before deploying your patent attorney. Patents start out initially as an idea or a set of experiments or designs. If...
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In the relentless chess match of modern business, your most valuable assets aren't always the ones on your balance sheet. They are the secret formulas, the proprietary processes, the customer lists, and the innovative algorithms that give you a competitive edge. These...
Uncovering the Hidden Jewels in Your Company In the relentless race of innovation, companies often fixate on patents as the primary means of protecting their intellectual property. While patents are undeniably crucial, a vast and often untapped reservoir of value lies...
Trade secrets are often mishandled because companies underestimate their value or assume simple measures like NDAs are enough. Below are the seven most common mistakes seen in litigation and audits.Not training your staff about what trade secrets are and how to handle...
Protecting trade secrets is largely “DIY” as there is no official government registration. Many companies do not have good systems or record keeping for their trade secrets or at best use basic tools like spreadsheets or text files. This is not sufficient and leaves...
How to Patent an Idea for Free The Real Answer Starts With Trade Secrets Why People Search for a Free Patent Many creators and founders look for a way to patent an idea without paying anything. It makes sense. Patents are expensive and early stage ideas usually need...
What is trade secret law? Trade secret law protects confidential business information that provides a competitive advantage. This can include formulas, processes, algorithms, designs, customer lists, data models, or any other valuable information that is not publicly...
An Introduction to what is a patent A patent is a government-granted right that gives an inventor exclusive control over a new and useful invention for a limited period of time. In exchange, the inventor must publicly disclose how the invention works. Patents are a...
There’s a lot of discussion about American companies and citizens risking their trade secrets by using AI based in China. What about Chinese companies? How do they protect their own trade secrets against misappropriation from other Chinese domestic companies seeking...
How do you protect trade secrets? Trade secrets are often the most valuable intellectual property a business owns. They include confidential know-how such as proprietary formulas, algorithms, manufacturing methods, source code, data models, pricing strategies,...
What’s the difference between a patent and a trade secret? Patents and trade secrets are both tools for protecting intellectual property, but they operate in fundamentally different ways. The choice between them has real consequences for how innovation is disclosed,...
Trade secrets are most often taken by an (ex)employee to a competing company or the employee sets up their own competing business. This theft is, of course, not authorized. But let’s look at the competing company – they basically get a gift from Santa…
If DTSA is so fantastic, why do we still see some trade secret cases argued at state courts instead of federal? Great question!
Determining how long a patent lasts is easy – 20 years from the first non-provisional priority date plus any extensions and adjustments (assuming payment of all maintenance fees).
It can be confusing to distinguish between confidential information and trade secrets – they’re different but some people incorrectly use the terms interchangeably. All trade secrets are confidential information, but not all confidential information are trade secrets. It’s like trade secrets are an elevated subset of confidential information.
Why Amazon, Meta, and Apple invest in trade secret protection The world’s most influential tech companies know that not every competitive advantage can or should be patented. Many of their most valuable innovations are never disclosed. Instead, they rely on trade...