Importance of Safeguarding Trade Secrets

Generally, every company has confidential information, including, for example, customer and supplier lists and their contact information; pricing information and criteria; proprietary methods and/or ingredients in products or services provided; and proprietary research and development that may lead to patentable inventions. Employment Agreements specifying what is trade secret and confidential, as well as having procedures in place to safeguard confidential information, can be a crucial part of protecting a company’s rights in its confidential and proprietary information. By law, for confidential information or proprietary material to be a “Trade Secret”, in general it must (1) have actual or potential economic value from being confidential or secret; (2) not be readily known or obtainable by others who may acquire economic value from knowing or using the information or material; and (3) be reasonably protected with procedures in place to maintain its secrecy. (See Louisiana RS § 51:1431(4); see also Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), 18 USC § 1839(3)).  If confidential and proprietary information is not safeguarded, the information may lose its status as a Trade Secret, and a company may not be able to protect its rights in the information. 

Should you wish to set up a consultation to evaluate what steps your company can take to safeguard its Trade Secrets, please contact the author of this post, Julia FitzPatrick, Patent Attorney, or one of our other registered Patent Attorneys.