Apple Sues Former Product Designer Who Allegedly Stole Trade Secrets

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The value of trade secrets never escapes a well-run company. To that end, Apple Inc. has sued a former product designer claiming that he stole the company’s trade secrets to help his new employer, Arris Composites, and then leaked those secrets to the media to advance his own financial interests. The designer, Simon Lancaster, worked …Read more

How to Resolve a Trade Secret Lawsuit by Entering a Standstill Agreement

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Why litigate a case for months or years, only to arrive at a settlement that would have been possible before the case began? In many cases, neither litigant would choose this approach, but it happens quite often nonetheless. About 60 percent of trade secret cases filed in federal court in the last decade ended in …Read more

When Should I Use Patent Protection, Trade Secret, or Both?

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Intellectual property owners can protect certain information either by obtaining a patent or by maintaining its secrecy. A patent provides strong, exclusive rights for a fixed period of time, generally twenty years. A trade secret may last indefinitely, but protection can be lost through independent development, reverse engineering, or failure to maintain secrecy. There are …Read more

Legal Protections for Your Software Products

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In the modern day world of cutting-edge technology and smartphones, software is a significant business sector where developers need to stay ahead of competitors by developing new code and new applications all the time. But new code involves developing intelligent solutions to problems, and providing customers with a unique product. What options do software developers …Read more

5 Things To Understand About New Federal Trade Secret Law

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Until May 12, 2016, trade secret law was the only area of intellectual property law left largely to state courts and state law. No longer. On May 12, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. (Pub. L. No. 114-153). It establishes a new federal civil remedy for the misappropriation of trade secrets, …Read more

Three Ways You May Be Sharing Trade Secrets With Competitors and How to Stop

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Trade secrets come in many forms. They commonly include customer lists, programming data, pricing information, employee compensation and benefits, cost matrices and secret recipes. Whatever information a company develops or acquires for the purpose of gaining a competitive edge that it does not share with others will likely fall within the definition of “Trade Secret.” …Read more