Inventions are generally protectable by patents. However, the matter of an invention may fall outside the statutory requirements of the patent system or be insufficiently novel or inventive. For some, the process of patent application is too time-consuming or expensive. Perhaps more significant, a patent application reveals the nature of an invention and allows competitor use of the information when the patent expires after a mere 17 years-and patents can't be renewed.
There is another way to protect trade subjects.
A trade secret is any confidential information that has value because it provides a firm with a competitive advantage. A trade secret, therefore, must be commercially useful. It implies minimal novelty because that which lacks novelty is generally known by others, and it must have some level of utility. Manufacturing processes and techniques, formulas for food, cosmetics, and drugs, customer lists, marketing, advertising, and other business plans have all been held to be protectable trade secrets.
Business practices must continually safeguard a firm's trade secrets, and those practices must conform to the requirements of the law. When employees or other persons may be exposed to confidential information a duty must be created in them to maintain secrecy. Steps must also be taken and maintained to prevent improper acquisition of secrets by strangers.
One great advantage trade secrets offer over patents, of course, is that there isn't a registration in which information is revealed. On the other hand, secrets cannot be protected if existing in a product that is released to the public.
When trade secrets have been improperly appropriated remedies may include monetary damages, injunctions to terminate use of the information or prevent its communication to others, and possible criminal penalties.
David can review your business operations and develop a program of protective measures that are both affordable and effective, as well as help you enforce your trade secret rights.
