Trade Secrets Law

Trade Secrets Law

Trade secrets are not registered with the government as is done in the case of intellectual properties such as patents, copyrights and trademarks. Any establishment can protect its confidential information through non-compete non-disclosure contracts with its employees. In the absence of formal protection, a third party is not prevented from independently duplicating and using the secret information once it is discovered. The law of protection of confidential information allows a perpetual monopoly in secret information. Newbery v. James, 1817, is the first reported trade secret case in England.

Rajrathnam V P, Attorney and IPR Consultant


Trademarks laws	Books On Trade Secrets Law	Trade Secret Case Law
Intellectual Property Rights	IPR Case Law	"Inevitable Disclosure" Doctrine

Generally the following factors are to be considered in determining whether a trade secret owner possessed a trade secret:

the extent to which the information is known outside the business;
the extent to which it is known by employees and others involved in the business;
the extent of measures taken to guard the secrecy of the information;
the value of the information to the trade secret owner and to his competitors;
the amount of effort or money expended in developing the information;
the ease or difficulty with which the information could be properly acquired or duplicated by others.

In order to succeed in a trade secret infringement suit, a trade secret owner must show:

that the information alleged to be confidential provides a competitive advantage,
that the information really is maintained in secrecy,
that the information was improperly acquired by the defendant (if the defendant is accused of making commercial use of the secret), or
that the information was improperly disclosed by the defendant (if the defendant is accused of leaking the information).

To prove that measures have been taken to guard the secrecy one has to diligently:

Maintain computer 'information and access' security.
Encode trade secret information.
Restrict trade secret information to those who are under a written obligation to maintain secrecy.
Restrict trade secret information only to those who are directly concerned with it
Post signs on all information related to the trade secret.
Keep trade secret information under lock and key.

The only way to protect trade secrets is to keep the information confidential. Trade secret protection lasts for as long as the trade secret is kept confidential. Trade secret protection ends the moment a trade secret is made available to the public.

Protecting Trade Secrets.jpg (16277 bytes)

"Coca Cola’s formula has been protected for over a century under tradesecret law whereas trade secret law has gained importance in a country like India only recently with the intensification of competition." - vpr

What are trade secrets?
Trade secrets may consist of any formula, idea, physical device, pattern, process, customer lists or other compilations.
Trade secret provides the owner of the information with a competitive advantage in a competitive market.
Trade secret is protected in such a way that competitors gain knowledge of it only through acquisition or theft.
Potential trade secrets are a secret recipe or a formula for a drink, survey methods used by professional pollsters, a new invention for which a patent application has not yet been filed, marketing strategies, manufacturing techniques and computer algorithms.

How to keep and protect trade secrets?
Trade secrets are valuable intellectual property that cannot be protected by intellectual property laws such as patents, copyrights and trademarks laws. So, the best way to keep and protect trade secrets is:

By keeping a new idea or business concept secret in order to enjoy a competitive advantage as a early mover.
By keeping competitors from learning that a product or service is under development and from discovering its functional or technical attributes.
By protecting valuable business information such as marketing plans, cost and price information and customer lists.
By protecting both negative and positive information learned during the course of research and development.
By protecting any other information that has some value and is not generally known by your competitors.

What are trade secret ownership rights?
A company owning tradesecrets can prevent any employee who routinely comes into contact with the employer's trade secrets as part of the employee's job, who is automatically bound by a duty of confidentiality, not to disclose or use trade secret information, from copying, using and benefiting from its trade secrets or disclosing them to others without permission.
A company owning tradesecrets can prevent those who acquire a trade secret through improper means such as theft, industrial espionage or bribery, from copying, using and benefiting from its trade secrets or disclosing them to others without permission.
A company owning tradesecrets can prevent those who knowingly obtain trade secrets from people who have no right to disclose them, from copying, using and benefiting from its trade secrets or disclosing them to others without permission.
A company owning tradesecrets can prevent those who learn about a trade secret by accident or mistake, but had reason to know that the information was a protected trade secret, from copying, using and benefiting from its trade secrets or disclosing them to others without permission.
A company owning tradesecrets can prevent those who sign nondisclosure agreements ("confidentiality agreements") from copying, using and benefiting from its trade secrets or disclosing them to others without permission.

Employees are normally bound by an implied duty not to disclose sensitive information. Even then, nondisclosure agreements should preferably be signed by all employees who come into contact with a company's trade secrets, including high-level employees and company presidents. Nondisclosure agreements make it clear to the employee that the company's trade secrets must be kept confidential. A company's lenders, investors and potential investors may also insist that employees sign nondisclosure agreements.

People who discover the tradesecret independently, without using illegal means or violating agreements or state laws cannot be stopped from using information protected under trade secret law.. It is not a violation of trade secret law to "reverse engineer" any lawfully obtained product and determine its trade secret.
Product X is comprised of a trade secret protected formula. Y reverse engineers the Product X and recreates the formula. Y can legally use this information to make and sell his own Product X.

How can trade secrets be protected?
There must be a clear demonstrated intention to keep any valuable business information a trade secret by marking documents containing trade secrets "Confidential," maintaining computer security and limiting access to secrets.
Trade secrets are best protected through the use of nondisclosure agreements. Courts have repeatedly reiterated that the use of nondisclosure agreements is the best demonstrated way to maintain the secrecy of confidential information.
Lack of nondisclosure agreements gives rise to doubts about genuine intention to keep trade secrets protected.
Enforcing trade secret rights if someone steals or improperly discloses confidential information.
Every state has enacted a law prohibiting theft or disclosure of trade secrets. Most of these laws are derived from the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA).
A trade secret owner can enforce rights against someone who steals confidential information by asking a court to issue an injunction preventing further disclosure. If Company X learns that an employee has emailed trade secrets to Company Y, Company X can obtain a court order preventing use of the secrets by Company Y. A trade secret owner can also collect damages for any economic injury suffered as a result of the trade secret's improper acquisition and use.

Examples of trade secret infringement that can lead to trade secret lawsuits:

X, a former employee of Y, discloses Y's trade secrets to a new employer.
X hacks into the network for a company and downloads information. X sells the information to a third party which a rival company.
X works as an independent contractor for Y. X signed a nondisclosure agreement with Y, but later discloses Y's secrets to a rival.

The "Inevitable Disclosure" Doctrine
A company may prevent a former employee from working for a competitor if the company can demonstrate that employment with the competitor will inevitably lead to disclosure of trade secrets.

In PepsiCo, Inc. v. Redmond, 54 F.3d 1262 (7th Cir. 1995), there is discussion of when disclosure of trade secrets is “inevitable.”
The court identified several factors to be weighed in determining whether disclosure of trade secrets in “inevitable” including;
(1) Is the new employer a competitor? (2) What is the scope of the defendant’s new job? (3) Has the employee been less than candid about his new position? (4) Has the plaintiff clearly identified the trade secrets that are at risk? (5) Has actual trade secret misappropriation already occurred? (6) Did the employee sign a nondisclosure and/or non-competition agreement? (7) Does the new employer have a policy against use of others’ trade secrets? (8) Is it possible to “sanitize” the employee’s new position?”

PepsiCo (1995 case) successfully argued that a former executive could not work as Chief Executive Officer of a competitor Gatorade and Snapple because the executive will inevitably rely on PepsiCo's trade secrets and in the process give the competitor an unfair advantage over PepsiCo.

The inevitable disclosure doctrine has been rejected by many States because it challenges an employee's basic freedom to switch employers. A court may refuse to apply the inevitable disclosure doctrine unless

additional bad faith is shown
underhanded dealing is proved, or
a competitor who does not have comparable technology has employed the worker.

Does the stealing of trade secrets constitute a crime?
Intentional theft of trade secrets can constitute a crime under both federal and state laws. “Theft” includes not only literal theft but also such practices as flying a plane over a factory to take pictures to deduce the production process. The most significant federal law dealing with trade secret theft is the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA) (18 U.S.C., Sections 1831 to 1839). The EEA gives the U.S. Attorney General sweeping powers to prosecute any person or company involved in trade secret misappropriation and punishes intentional stealing, copying or receiving of trade secrets. Individuals may be fined up to $500,000 and corporations up to $5 million. A violator may also be sent to prison for up to ten years. All property used and proceeds derived from the theft can be seized and sold by the government.
The EEA applies not only to thefts that occur within the United States, but also to thefts outside the U.S. if the thief is a U.S. citizen or corporation, or if any act in furtherance of the offense occurred in the U.S. If the theft is performed on behalf of a foreign government or agent, the corporate fines can double and jail time may increase to 15 years.
Trade secret infringement a crime in California. It is a crime to acquire, disclose or use trade secrets without authorization. Violators may be fined up to $5,000, sentenced to up to one year in jail, or both. (Cal. Penal Code Section 499c.)

Unless otherwise stated, the statute in the United States of America reads as follows:
“Trade secret" means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, process, drawing, cost data or customer list that:
(1) Derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use, and
(2) is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.
"Misappropriation" of trade secrets is defined as the:
(1) Acquisition of a trade secret of another by a person who knows or has reason to know that the trade secret was acquired by improper means; or
(2) disclosure or use of a trade secret of another without express or implied consent by a person who
(A) used improper means to acquire knowledge of the trade secret; or
(B) at the time of disclosure or use, knew or had reason to know that his knowledge of the trade secret was (i) derived from or through a person who had utilized improper means to acquire it; (ii) acquired under circumstances giving rise to a duty to maintain its secrecy or limit its use, or (iii) derived from or through a person who owed a duty to the person seeking relief to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or
(C) before a material change of his position, knew or had reason to know that it was a trade secret and that knowledge of it had been acquired by accident or mistake.

Books On Trade Secrets Law:

The Uniform Trade Secrets Act : An article from: JOM [HTML] (Digital) January 31, 2006
by David V Radack
Once a trade secret misappropriation is found, the UTSA provides remedies for the aggrieved party. Traditional remedies, such as money damages and injunctions, are provided under the UTSA. Money damages can take the form of the defendant's unjust enrichment or the injured party's loss, in terms of lost profits. The UTSA also provides for a reasonable royalty as an alternate measure of damages.
This digital document is an article from JOM, most recently published by ProQuest Information and Learning on January 31, 2006. The length of the article is 902 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Nondisclosure Agreements: Protect Your Trade Secrets and More (Paperback)
by Richard Stim, Stephen Fishman - Bk&CD-Rom edition (September 1, 2001)
Attorneys Stim (License Your Invention) and Fishman (Working for Yourself) target small-business managers with this comprehensive explanation of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). The book covers the use of the agreements to prevent theft of business secrets by employees and competitors, beginning with a discussion of what trade secrets are and which kind can be protected by NDAs and followed by a review of the essential elements of a basic nondisclosure form. There is a chapter on agreements for specific situations in which secrets might be divulged, such as software beta tests, employment interviews, business visits, and sharing customer lists. Readers will learn what the options are if an agreement is violated and how to find and work with an attorney to enforce an NDA. The book includes a glossary, a list of state signatories to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, and plenty of sample forms for NDAs printed in the text and on an accompanying CD-ROM. Highly recommended for business collections. Joan Pedzich, Harris Beach, Rochester, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inventors, business people, programmers and other professionals often possess confidential information that gives them an advantage in their field. The sad reality, however, is that a secret can be leaked, obliterating any benefit it provided.
Protect yourself and your business. Armed with Nondisclosure Agreements, you have the step-by-step instructions and legal forms you need to safeguard your trade secrets, even if they reach the wrong hands.
Written by attorneys who specialize in intellectual property, this book guides you through the development of a nondisclosure agreement, explaining the "fine print" so that you can keep your information confidential. Nondisclosure agreements can be tailored for every type of situation, including:
* employers maintaining employee secrecy
* inventors keeping their gadgets under wraps
* businesses licensing their secret technology
* programmers beta-testing their software
* marketers protecting customer lists
* and many more
The book provides a thorough, easy-to-follow analysis of trade secret law and nondisclosure agreements, including an explanation of how trade secrets are created and who owns them. Includes over 15 forms as tear-outs and on CD-ROM.

Protecting Trade Secrets Under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (Hardcover)
by Michael Craig Budden
“...is concice, useful, and well-written primer for the subject of commercial confidential information....Budden's careful and realistic approach has produced a useful, compact guidebook for the on-the-go business executive who must confront the subject of trade secrets, simultaneously Budden's work can well serve the needs of academicians, especially in business schools and law schools....[P]rovides thoughtful and practical advice in the field of information security without excessive legal jargon....[H]eartily recommended for any business leader or academician who must deal with the subject of information security.”–IJCM
Trade secrets are valuable. Executives know that, but do they also know how easily they can be stolen? Marketing expert Michael Budden thinks not. The departure of unhappy employees, sabotage by current employees, or simply the carelessness of managers unmindful of the risks or unaware of the protection available to them can be hazardous to the security of essential corporate information. Now, however, there is the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Prevalent in most states with enactment in others almost certain, the Act offers the protection executives need providing they have taken reasonable steps on their own before seeking redress under its provisions. In this readable text, Budden explains the law, how it works, and what executives must do to avail themselves of it. He includes revealing case studies for futher guidance and to aid executives in their corporate strategic planning. An essential resource for people with management responsibilities in almost all organizations, and a useful quick refresher for their legal advisers.

Trade Secrets: Protecting Your Confidential Business Information (Self-Counsel Business (Paperback)) (Paperback)
by Nishan Swais
- Safeguard your confidential business information - Understand the threat posed by technology - What to do if your secret gets out.
This book was written for the Canadian market; hence, the laws and regulations contained pertain to Canada. It is, however, an excellent beginner's guide for anyone.

Nondisclosure Agreements: Protect Your Trade Secrets and More Protecting Trade Secrets Under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act Trade Secrets: Protecting Your Confidential Business Information The Uniform Trade Secrets Act

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Intellectual Property Stories 2005 (Paperback) (November 30, 2005)
by Jane C. Ginsburg (Editor), Rochelle Cooper Dreyfuss (Editor)
Intellectual Property Stories brings famous cases and case law to life by telling the true, never-heard-before stories behind landmark Intellectual Property cases and case law. Intellectual Property Stories is organized into six chapters, each drawing on case law in patents, copyrights, trademarks, or unfair competition, to illustrate the problems intellectual property law encounters. The works, inventions, and marks at issue in these cases and case law vary widely.

Intellectual Property Management : A Guide for Scientists, Engineers, Financiers, and Managers (Hardcover) (March 6, 2006)
by Claas Junghans, Adam Levy, Rolf Sander (Contributor), Tobias Boeckh (Contributor), Jan Dirk Heerma (Contributor), Christoph Regierer (Contributor)
This concise introduction to European patent law and global patent perspectives combines the legal and economic perspectives to adopt a unique approach that serves both inventors -- engineers and scientists -- as well as financiers and economists.
Written by experts with first-hand knowledge this book is completely up-to-date, taking into account recent additions to European patent law, especially in the field of biotechnology and genetics. While concentrating on the EU, the world perspective is nevertheless represented, including US particularities. The result is a set of guidelines allowing readers to develop a holistic patent strategy suitable for their specific needs.
For scientists, engineers, managers and financiers in the chemical industry.
This concise introduction to patent law and strategy combines legal, scientific and economic perspectives to provide a thorough foundation in the subject. The result is a set of guiding principles that allow readers to develop a holistic patent strategy aligned with their needs, and those of both fledgling and established companies.
Written by experts with up-to-date and first-hand knowledge in the field, this book takes a global view, with particular emphasis on recent modifications to European Law and the particularities of US Law.
It is recommended as first reading for scientists, managers and financiers, as well as providing patent agents and advisors with a balanced commercial perspective.

Pirates of the Digital Millennium : How the Intellectual Property Wars Damage Our Personal Freedoms, Our Jobs, and the World Economy (Hardcover) (September 20, 2004)
by John Gantz, Jack B. Rochester
Pirates of the Digital Millennium: Preface PREFACE It was a quintessential New England fall morning-crisp, sunny, cold-that day in November 2002. We were two old friends and colleagues, getting together for breakfast to catch up, talk about our work, our children, our lives. John, the researcher, was just finishing up a massive project at IDC on the economic impact of worldwide software piracy. Jack, the writer, smelled an important story in the making. We were both amazed at the extent of worldwide copyright violation, astounded at how fast Napster had grown, sad at its demise and the loss of one of the easiest to use software programs we'd ever seen, and amused at how quickly KaZaA had filled its shoes. Little did we know that the casual activity known as file-sharing, or downloading MP3s, would explode in the news six months later when the Recording Industry Association of America began issuing takedown orders on college students. And even though we knew our kids-boys in high school, college, and beyond-were downloaders, we didn t really understand how they felt about what they were doing, about what the music industry was doing, or about copyright infringement in general. Nor, when we met, did we understand the wildly complex facets of copyright law-for example, how it was rewritten 11 separate times during the 1900s, each time granting longer and longer terms of copyright. We had no idea that Mickey Mouse s copyright (1928 2023) would outlive his creator, Walt Disney (1901 1966), by 57 years. We had yet to grasp the full extent of worldwide media piracy and its impact on the global economy. Before we left the breakfast table, we were talking about working together on another book, 20 years after our first collaboration- a widely popular book called The Naked Computer- was published. Our agent and publisher shared our enthusiasm for this new book, and soon we were once again writing together. We have entered the digital millennium, where most, if not all, of our media have been (or soon will be) rendered into the strings of ones and zeroes a computer chip understands. The world is awash in media and entertainment devices, personal computers, Internet connections, and broadband transmission. We re surrounded by MP3 players, TiVo, Personal Video Recorders, CD burners, iPods, laptops, Playstations, and more. Technology has unsheathed a sword of Damocles that makes it possible for us to enjoy media-software, computer games, music, movies-in ways that were not possible 20 years ago. At the same time, it threatens the long-held right of artists and copyright owners to expect a fair return for their intellectual capital and the sweat of their brows. Yet as the media for gaming, music, movies, and computers become ever more interchangeable, so will the public s expectations that they ought to have the right to use them in all the new and different ways they choose. These two viewpoints are in serious conflict. When we began writing Pirates of the Digital Millennium , we held some cherished, all-American beliefs. We believed business is entitled to a profit. We were convinced that black marketeers in other countries are hurting the world s economy by stealing and replicating computer software and games, movies, and other forms of intellectual property. We assumed kids don t really understand copyright and that they re stealing from record companies and artists. But after a year of researching and writing, we didn t end up in quite the same intellectual place we started. This book was a journey of personal discovery. We hope it will be the same for you. We have been forced to scrutinize our personal philosophies and our understanding about what motivates people. We ve had to travel the timeline of copyright protection from the Middle Ages until now to see how it has evolved. We ve had to understand how business, politics, and law mix in today s information society. We ve had to ask: What freedoms have we given up in the name of copyright protection? Our discussion concerns intellectual property: its use and its value. On one hand are those who believe that anything they conjure up, anything that transforms an idea into form, is intellectual property. On the other are the individuals who believe just as passionately that the entire notion of intellectual property is at best a farce, at worst just another way to suck profits out of the ether. In between these two extremes is a spectrum of social, legal, and ethical points of view. There s a battle outside and it s ragin , sang Bob Dylan in The Times They Are A-Changin . This battle pits media conglomerates against teenagers, artists against artists, technology providers against content providers, nations against nations, Internet service providers against entertainment companies, media companies against their best customers-and even law enforcement against organized crime. The ownership of intellectual property has been passing from the minds of artists and into the bank accounts of media businesses for at least 200 years. Yet since the passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, some of those in the media business have developed a lockdown mentality that many people feel threatens their right to enjoy the media they buy however they see fit, as well as the public right of fair use. The concerns discussed in this book rise way beyond simply being able to legitimately download a song from the Internet: They extend all the way to your right to not sit through commercials when you watch a recorded television show. There are those who believe the American model of capitalism, along with American intellectual property, should be promulgated throughout the world economy, with the same terms of sale and use for their products as in the United States, regardless of disparities in economic status or local customs regarding ownership and copying. And there are those who don t. We found ourselves asking a number of these questions as we traveled the road from blank page to completed manuscript: Do we have a right to use media we license or buy in any way we see fit? Do the media publishers have a right to profit for decades from their acquired intellectual property? Is downloading stealing or civil disobedience? Is enforcement curtailing piracy or making it worse? Can we expect to change the hearts and minds of the global citizenry to a capitalistic point of view? Could the software companies and media firms do something different to alleviate the problem? How bad is the problem? Whose problem is it? Why do pirates pirate? And why don t others? This is our invitation to you to take a journey into the heart of intellectual property darkness with us. WHAT S IN THIS BOOK? Here s a roadmap for the 10 chapters of the journey you re about to embark upon with us: Chapter 1, Are You a Digital Pirate ?, presents an overview of the ideas and social situations regarding the licit and illicit use of copyrighted intellectual property. We ask you to evaluate your own behavior, or that of people close to you, to determine if you, or they, are pirates of the digital millennium. Chapter 2, Is it Copyright or the Right to Copy ?, presents a history of modern copyright in what we generally regard as Western civilization, beginning with monks in the European Dark Ages and moving (somewhat regressively) through English law to American issues of fair use and the sanctity of ideas. A table of the political history of copyright concludes the chapter. Chapter 3, Us Against Them ?, explores the war over intellectual property use, providing a fair and balanced perspective of all the competing camps. It s the scorecard-the playbook-of the conflict. Chapter 4, Inside the Corporate Intellect: A Day at Microsoft , explains just what goes into software development, in terms of human intellectual capital and corporate resources. Next time you think how cheap it is to make a CD, remember this chapter and that the aluminum and plastic disc is a very small part of the cost. Chapter 5, Inside the Sausage: The Making of the Digital Millen nium Copyright Act , sets out what led to the creation and passage of this piece of legislation, which has caused one of the most pitched battles between copyists and capitalists in the history of copyright. Chapter 6, Global Fallout , explores the worldwide effects and aftereffects of digital piracy. We re not talking about kids downloading tunes here. In some cases, organized crime is a major player. We explore what it takes for a less privileged country to gain economic footing with our intellectual property. Chapter 7, Dude, Where s My MP3 ?, focuses on youth, primarily American, who regard access to the Internet as an ordained right and anything on it as fair and free game. Yes, a game: If the copyright holders find a way to protect their intellectual property, the game is to crack it. Chapter 8, Eliot Ness or Keystone Kops ?, looks at the attempts- and we do mean attempts-to stem the tide of international piracy and download thievery. While the RIAA did put the fear of God in America s downloaders for a short while, most have come to believe that detection and punishment are unlikely-and it appears they may be right. Ditto for the rest of the digital planet. Chapter 9, Angel on My Shoulder: What s in It for Me? , asks you to examine your own beliefs and ethics in making a personal determination about what s right and what s not, what the other guy does be damned. We all have to take our own ethical stand. Chapter 10, Through the Fog: The Future of Intellectual Property, sums up what we've learned in the foregoing nine chapters, and extrapolates from that some solutions to the problem. Here you can test our logic and vision, and add your own. The Afterword, following Chapter 10, describes each of our personal journeys, where we reveal our views to you. Don't peek until you ve read the book, though!

Intellectual Property in the New Millennium : Essays in Honour of William R. Cornish (Hardcover) (October 14, 2004)
by David Vaver (Editor), Lionel Bently (Editor)
'... this festschrift is thoughtfully compiled and well written, on topics of considerable variety and importance, thus extending its shelf life beyond its immediate celebratory purpose.' World Intellectual Property Organization Magazine
Intellectual property law is a subject of increasing economic importance and the focus of a great deal of legislative activity at an international and regional level. This collection brings together contributions from some of the most distinquished scholars in this exciting and controversial field, covering the full extent of intellectual property laws, that is, patents, copyright, trade marks and related rights. the contributions examine some of the most pressing practical and theoretical concerns which intellectual property lawyers face.

Open Source Licensing : Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law (Paperback) (July 22, 2004)
by Lawrence Rosen
A complete guide to the law of open source for developers, managers, and lawyers
Now that open source software is blossoming around the world, it is crucial to understand how open source licenses work—and their solid legal foundations. Open Source Initiative general counsel Lawrence Rosen presents a plain-English guide to open source law for developers, managers, users, and lawyers. Rosen clearly explains the intellectual property laws that support open source licensing, carefully reviews today’s leading licenses, and helps you make the best choices for your project or organization. Coverage includes:
Explanation of why the SCO litigation and other attacks won’t derail open source
Dispelling the myths of open source licensing
Intellectual property law for nonlawyers: ownership and licensing of copyrights, patents, and trademarks
"Academic licenses": BSD, MIT, Apache, and beyond
The "reciprocal bargain" at the heart of the GPL
Alternative licenses: Mozilla, CPL, OSL and AFL
Benefits of open source, and the obligations and risks facing businesses that deploy open source software
Choosing the right license: considering business models, product architecture, IP ownership, license compatibility issues, relicensing, and more
Enforcing the terms and conditions of open source licenses
Shared source, eventual source, and other alternative models to open source
Protecting yourself against lawsuits
“I have studied Rosen’s book in detail and am impressed with its scope and content. I strongly recommend it to anybody interested in the current controversies surrounding open source licensing.”
- John Terpstra, Samba.org; cofounder, Samba-Team
“Linux and open source software have forever altered the computing landscape. The important conversations no longer revolve around the technology but rather the business and legal issues. Rosen’s book is must reading for anyone using or providing open source solutions.”
- Stuart F. Cohen, CEO, Open Source Development Labs
A complete guide to the law of open source for developers, managers, and lawyers
Now that open source software is blossoming around the world, it is crucial to understand how open source licenses work—and their solid legal foundations. Open Source Initiative general counsel Lawrence Rosen presents a plain-English guide to open source law for developers, managers, users, and lawyers. Rosen clearly explains the intellectual property laws that support open source licensing, carefully reviews today’s leading licenses, and helps you make the best choices for your project or organization. Coverage includes:
Explanation of why the SCO litigation and other attacks won’t derail open source
Dispelling the myths of open source licensing
Intellectual property law for nonlawyers: ownership and licensing of copyrights, patents, and trademarks
“Academic licenses”: BSD, MIT, Apache, and beyond
The “reciprocal bargain” at the heart of the GPL
Alternative licenses: Mozilla, CPL, OSL and AFL
Benefits of open source, and the obligations and risks facing businesses that deploy open source software
Choosing the right license: considering business models, product architecture, IP ownership, license compatibility issues, relicensing, and more
Enforcing the terms and conditions of open source licenses
Shared source, eventual source, and other alternative models to open source
Protecting yourself against lawsuits

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Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Valuation : A Primer for Identifying and Determining Value (Paperback) American Bar Association (January 25, 2006)
by Wes Anson
This primer, written by experts in the area, answers some of the most frequently asked questions about identifying the value of the primary types of intellectual property (IP) and other intangible assets. It also looks at the primary, traditional, and not-so-traditional methods of valuing these assets and includes definitions, glossary, case law studies and situations where valuation is required.

A Primer on Intellectual Property Licensing (Paperback)
by Heather Meeker
A PRIMER ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING (Second Edition) is a compact, practical guide to one of the most dynamic and popular areas of legal practice today—intellectual property licensing. Developed by an attorney (advocate) in private practice who specializes in Silicon Valley technology licensing, this guide presents the basic rules of law you need to know for a licensing practice, along with helpful examples of contractual language, practice tips, and insights on custom and practice in the industry. This textbook is appropriate for a law school or business school seminar, or for practicing attorneys who wish to expand their practice into this exciting field. Individual chapters from this text are also available for seminars and CLE presentations (in electronic format).
Heather Meeker is an attorney (advocate) in private practice at Greenberg Traurig, LLP, a leading technology law firm in Silicon Valley, and specializes in drafting and negotiating intellectual property transactions for software and other technology clients. She also serves as an adjunct professor at Hastings College of the Law, teaching a seminar in intellectual property licensing, for which this textbook was developed. Ms. Meeker has degrees from Yale College and Boalt Hall School of Law. She clerked for the United States Circuit Judge John Porfilio of the Tenth Circuit. Ms. Meeker has published numerous law review articles and practice-oriented articles in the area of law and technology, and has a special interest in open source software licensing. She serves as the co-chair of the Open Source committee of the ABA’s Science and Technology Law Section, and in 2005 was selected by the Daily Journal as one of the top 30 intellectual property lawyers in California. She also worked for many years in the entertainment and computer industries, prior to her work as an attorney (advocate).

International Intellectual Property (University Case Law Book)
by Paul Goldstein
INTERNATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW: CASE LAW AND MATERIALS organizes contemporary foreign, as well as U.S., case law and literature to equip law students with the methodology they need to engage in international intellectual property practice, in both transactional and litigation settings. Carefully selected materials also expose students to: the important new directions introduced by the TRIPs Agreement; the traditional treaty regimes; and the social, economic and cultural considerations that underpin intellectual property laws around the world. Each field of law - copyright, patent, trademark, unfair competition, trade secrets, industrial design - is introduced by a comprehensive author's note placing the field in its international and comparative law context, and extensive notes on the case law and materials fill in relevant details, including currently, and historically, important topics.
PAUL GOLDSTEIN, Lillick Professor of Law, Stanford University

Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age (Hardcover)
by Robert P. Merges, Peter S. Menell, Mark A. Lemley
The authors are luminaries of Boalt, UC Berkeley. The book is for students, and therefore concentrates on precedents. Reviewer: Jukka Kemppinen.
This book is an excellent text dealing with multiple aspects of American intellectual property law. As a Canadian law student I found its approach of using first principles to introduce readers to the basics of intellectual property law very useful. From the first principles of copywright, trademark and patent law the book proceeds to give an insightful exposition of the developments of each of these areas of law in response to recent developments in the sciences. While some attention is paid to biotechnology in the patent section of the book, most of the work focusses on the impact of developments in intellectual property law as a result of information technology. - Reviewer: Elyot Waller.

Economic Approaches to Intellectual Property Policy, Litigation, and Management (September 1, 2005)
by Gregory K. Leonard; Lauren J. Stiroh (Editor)
Over the past century, the value and importance of intellectual property has grown rapidly worldwide. While it is crucial for companies to successfully manage their intangible assets, they face difficult questions in attempting to navigate the complex business and legal environment that surrounds IP rights.
Economic Approaches to Intellectual Property Policy, Litigation, and Management discusses real-world tools and strategies at the forefront of economic thinking about many of today’s most prominent intellectual property issues. Co-edited by Dr. Gregory K. Leonard and Dr. Lauren J. Stiroh, this book is an anthology of 23 articles by economists associated with NERA, whose analyses have played a crucial role in numerous landmark legal and regulatory case law. The chapters explore topics ranging from the valuation of IP damages to intellectual property rights protection in China and the antitrust implications of standard setting and patent pools.
The book addresses such key questions as:
How should the owner of IP rights be compensated when those rights are violated?
What role should antitrust and competition policy play in intellectual property matters?
How can companies more accurately assess their R&D investments and strategies?
Should emerging economic powers implement and enforce more stringent intellectual property rights?
Economic Approaches to Intellectual Property Policy, Litigation, and Management should prove to be of interest to economists, lawyers, policy makers, executives managing IP portfolios, and law and business schools
Editor Dr. Gregory K. Leonard specializes in applied microeconomics and econometrics. He has provided expert analysis, as well as written and oral testimony, in the areas of intellectual property, antitrust, damages estimation, statistics and econometrics, and labor market discrimination. Dr. Leonard was one of the developers of the merger simulation technique that is now widely used to analyze the competitive effects of mergers. He has published in the RAND Journal of Economics, the Journal of Industrial Economics, the Journal of Public Economics, the Journal of Labor Economics, Antitrust Law Journal, and the George Mason Law Review.
Editor Dr. Lauren J. Stiroh specializes in the economics of intellectual property, commercial damages, and antitrust. Much of her work and research has focused on the intersection of intellectual property and antitrust litigation. She has conducted studies of patent value and assessed damages from patent infringement in a number of sectors. In high technology industries, in particular, she has analyzed the impact of standard setting on patent value and issues related to market power. In addition, she has conducted research and prepared expert reports on a variety of issues arising from antitrust allegations, has created and critiqued damages models in a variety of contexts, and is experienced in survey design and the econometric analysis of consumer survey data. Dr. Stiroh has presented her research before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), the Canadian Competition Bureau, and in expert testimony. She has also written articles and given speeches for the American Bar Association, Law Seminars International, the Practising Law Institute, and the 2002 FTC and DOJ joint hearings on "Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy."

Virtual Monopoly: Building an Intellectual Property Strategy for Creative Advantage - From Patents to Trademarks, From Copyrights to Design Rights (Hardcover)
by Christopher Pike
Reviewer - Jerome Spaargaren (London, UK):
Christopher Pike is not your run-of-the mill intellectual property adviser. Although qualified as a patent and trade mark attorney (advocate), his experience in dealing with business management issues comes through very directly when reading this book.
It is not always appreciated that there is a whole host of available strategies for businesses which are, knowingly and in some cases not, involved in generating intellectual property. Intellectual property generators often need commercially minded guidance appropriate to their markets and their approach to business as to how their intellectual property can be used to create value. Pike has identified and crystallised models and concepts in a way which makes the grander themes of intellectual property, often held as an impenetrable area for those outside its day-to-day practice, readily understandable. He sets out a useful vocabulary of concepts and terms, describing intellectual property as a currency used in buy-sell relations and for measuring creative advantage.
I suspect that Pike may be at the forefront of a new area of consulting which is much-needed but so-far overlooked. The book he has written will surely be a useful tool to a broad range of readers, particularly those looking for insight into modern approaches to intellectual property strategy. Whilst other books on IP may be found hidden in the law section of a bookshop, this will almost certainly be found in amongst the bestselling management books.

Intellectual Property for Paralegals : The Law of Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents, and Trade Secrets (West Legal Studies Series) (Paperback) 2 edition (July 6, 2004)
by Deborah E. Bouchoux
Trademarks, copyrights, patents and unfair competition are the four major areas of intellectual property law that are presented in full in this second edition. The methods by which each is created, procedures to register or protect each, the duration of rights, infringement, and new and international developments are addressed for each of the four fields, giving the readers the scope they need to apply this information in the practical setting. The specific tasks of paralegals involved in this area of law are presented in helpful checklists. Plus, a host of sample forms and agreements, statutes, charts, citations, case studies and much more make the material easy to digest and use in the practical setting. On-line Companion for this text includes Appendices A-E, chapter summaries, trivia, and Internet resources.

Indigenous Intellectual Property Rights: Legal Obstacles and Innovative Solutions : Legal Obstacles and Innovative Solutions (Contemporary Native American Communities) (Paperback) (September 2004)
by Mary Riley
The expert contributors from around the globe provide unique case studies to guide indigenous communities and their partners in protecting their intellectual property. Addressing the poor fit between western regimes of intellectual property rights and the requirements for safeguarding indigenous cultural resources, the authors describe positive efforts at protecting indigenous knowledge. It is an important resource for advocates for indigenous and human rights and legal scholars.

Private Power, Public Law : The Globalization of Intellectual Property Rights (Cambridge Studies in International Relations)
by Susan K. Sell, Steve Smith (Series Editor), Thomas Biersteker (Series Editor), Chris Brown (Series Editor), Phil Cerny
(Series Editor), Joseph Grieco (Series Editor), A. J. R. Groom (Series Editor), Richard Higgott (Series Editor), G. John
Ikenberry (Series Editor), Caroline Kennedy-Pipe (Series Editor), Steve Lamy (Series Editor)
Review
'... a very good book ... lucidly and engagingly written as well as being excellently researched.' The King's College Law Journal
Susan Sell's book reveals how power in international politics is increasingly exercised by private interests rather than
governments. In 1994 the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted the Agreement in Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which dictated to states how they should regulate the protection of intellectual property. This book argues that TRIPS resulted from lobbying by powerful multinational corporations who wished to mould international law to protect their markets.

Copyright And Human Rights: Freedom Of Expression, Intellectual Property, Privacy (Information Law Series) (Hardcover)
by Paul L. C. Torremans (Editor)
First Sentence:
When the Canada House conference in which this collection of essays is rooted was set up and subsequently when the topics and the essential components of a book treating the issue of copyright, and other intellectual property rights, and human rights were discussed amongst the series editor, the editor of this collection and the contributors it seemed obvious to think of the issue as one involving copyright and intellectual property rights in general on the one hand and human rights on the other hand.

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Essentials of Intellectual Property (Essentials Series) (Paperback)
by Alexander I. Poltorak, Paul J. Lerner
This book is the liveliest, best-written and most thorough introduction to the fundamentals of this subject. Yet it goes beyond the framework of basic IP protection to discuss emerging concepts as well as inside information immediately useful in the real world. In short, it forms the next rung in the advancement of IP management up the ladder from an art to a science.
( Samson Vermont, founder of the periodical Patent Strategy & Management; Patent Attorney)
Poltorak and Lerner deliver a remarkable new book, just in time, for the layperson who wants to study the modern intellectual property landscape. In a style that prompts, guides, and mentors the reader, the book should prove invaluable to those who need to acquire enough of an understanding of the material to keep out of trouble. Easy to read and free of jargon and difficult legal language, the book is one I will recommend to those who want a straightforward introduction to an increasingly important legal specialty.
( Alexis N. Sommers, Ph.D., Professor of Industrial Engineering University of New Haven Director, Education and Training Connecticut Association of Purchasing Managers)
As intellectual property becomes a more important aspect of the world's economy, this book is a must-read. Dr. Poltorak's and Mr. Lerners experience, knowledge and wit help both new and experienced licensing practitioners understand and appreciate the simple and complex issues in the field of intellectual property licensing.
( Arthur M. Nutter, President, TAEUS)
Essentials of Intellectual Property should be required reading for any manager interested in developing an IP strategy. Alex Poltorak and Paul Lerner have distilled their years of experience into an easy to understand text that may prove to be a “go to” book for many busy executives.
( Paul E. Paray, Managing Member, Licenz Group, LLC and former CEO AnIdea Corporation.)
This critically important new volume of work not only provides the professional with a greater knowledge of this vast subject, but also the novice with a better understanding and appreciation for the results of their creative abilities.
( Lawrence J. Udell, Executive Director California Invention Center Professor of New Ventures and Entrepreneurship)
The recent interest in Intellectual Property as a company asset comes as no surprise to inventors. For years we have known that every invention, whether physical or intellectual, starts with a unique idea. This book represents the insight and experience of the two critical elements of modern IP issues - the process of securing an IP patent and the structure for protecting it. In the global information technospace of today's business, nothing is more important than understanding and controlling access to proprietary ideas. Knowing just what steps to take will help us all, inventors and users. As a holder of patents, I feel relieved to know that there is now a map for navigating the labyrinth in this area.
( Arthur “Skip” Moen, Ph.D.)
Essentials of Intellectual Property is an essential read for anyone managing an enterprise that invests resources in innovation. This book provides, with the clarity of plain English, valuable guidance for both protecting the intellectual property created by a firms creative efforts, and deriving revenue and value from them as well. After being read, it should be kept close as a handy desk reference.
( Norman Zafman, Founding partner of Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman)

Developing an IP Strategy for Your Company: Leading Lawyers on Intellectual Property Portfolio Capitalization (Inside the Minds) (Paperback) (May 15, 2005)
by Aspatore Books
Developing an IP Strategy for Your Company: Leading Lawyers on Intellectual Property Portfolio Capitalization is an authoritative, insider's perspective on the issues surrounding intellectual property law including patent and trademark protection, maintaining IP portfolios, and the future of intellectual property law, on a global scale. Featuring Department Heads, Group Chairs, and Leading Partners, all representing some of the nation's top firms, this book provides a broad, yet comprehensive overview of the practice of intellectual property law, discussing the current shape and future state of patent and trademark protection from the founding doctrines, to the pivotal case law of today. From the steps involved in policing intellectual property portfolios, to crucial tactics around avoiding common IP legal risks, these authors articulate the finer points around intellectual property now, and what will hold true into the future. The different niches represented and the breadth of perspectives presented enable readers to get inside some of the great legal minds of today as experts offer up their thoughts around the keys to success within this fascinating practice area.
About Inside the Minds:
Inside the Minds provides readers with proven business intelligence from C-Level executives (Chairman, CEO, CFO, CMO, Partner) from the world's most respected companies nationwide, rather than third-party accounts from unknown authors and analysts. Each chapter is comparable to an essay/thought leadership piece and is a future-oriented look at where an industry, profession or topic is headed and the most important issues for the future. Through an exhaustive selection process, each author was hand-picked by the Inside the Minds editorial board to author a chapter for this book.

The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law
by William M. Landes, Richard A. Posner
Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School, author of The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World : Intellectual property is the most important public policy issue that most policymakers don't yet get. It is America's most important export, and affects an increasingly wide range of social and economic life. In this extraordinary work, two of America's leading scholars in the law and economics movement test the pretensions of intellectual property law against the rationality of economics. Their conclusions will surprise advocates from both sides of this increasingly contentious debate. Their analysis will help move the debate beyond the simplistic ideas that now tend to dominate.
Pierre N. Leval, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit : An image from modern mythology depicts the day that Einstein, pondering a blackboard covered with sophisticated calculations, came to the life-defining discovery: Time = $$. Landes and Posner, in the role of that mythological Einstein, reveal at every turn how perceptions of economic efficiency pervade legal doctrine. This is a fascinating and resourceful book. Every page reveals fresh, provocative, and surprising insights into the forces that shape law.
William Patry, former copyright counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Judiciary Committee : The most important book ever written on intellectual property.
Steven Shavell, Harvard Law School, author of Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law : Given the immense and growing importance of intellectual property to modern economies, this book should be welcomed, even devoured, by readers who want to understand how the legal system affects the development, protection, use, and profitability of this peculiar form of property. The book is the first to view the whole landscape of the law of intellectual property from a functionalist (economic) perspective. Its examination of the principles and doctrines of patent law, copyright law, trade secret law, and trademark law is unique in scope, highly accessible, and altogether greatly rewarding.
This book takes a fresh look at the most dynamic area of American law today, comprising the fields of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secrecy, publicity rights, and misappropriation. Topics range from copyright in private letters to defensive patenting of business methods, from moral rights in the visual arts to the banking of trademarks, from the impact of the court of patent appeals to the management of Mickey Mouse. The history and political science of intellectual property law, the challenge of digitization, the many statutes and judge-made doctrines, and the interplay with antitrust principles are all examined. The treatment is both positive (oriented toward understanding the law as it is) and normative (oriented to the reform of the law).
Previous analyses have tended to overlook the paradox that expanding intellectual property rights can effectively reduce the amount of new intellectual property by raising the creators' input costs. Those analyses have also failed to integrate the fields of intellectual property law. They have failed as well to integrate intellectual property law with the law of physical property, overlooking the many economic and legal-doctrinal parallels.
This book demonstrates the fundamental economic rationality of intellectual property law, but is sympathetic to critics who believe that in recent decades Congress and the courts have gone too far in the creation and protection of intellectual property rights.

Essentials of Licensing Intellectual Property (Essentials (John Wiley)) (Paperback)
by Alexander I. Poltorak, Paul J. Lerner
"Poltorak and Lerner have produced a highly readable and informative introduction to intellectual property licensing, written with style, grace and occasionally tongue in parenthetical cheek. It should be required reading for those new to the field as well as for others needing a 'Licensing 101' course."
- Emmett Murtha, President & CEO, QED Intellectual Property (USA); Past President of the Licensing Executives Society and former Director of Licensing for IBM
"Professionals in manufacturing and in supply chain management have little time or motivation to grapple with legal texts. Yet, they need precise, complete, easy-to-read material that can educate them both quickly and well. Alexander Poltorak and Paul Lerner, in Essentials of Intellectual Property Licensing, understand their audience's needs, and produced a work that is actually fun to read. More to the point, it is easy to read, amazingly concise and clear for a legal text, and encourages the reader to step forth as a partner with legal counsel to tackle issues head-on."
- Alexis N. Sommers, Ph.D. Professor of Industrial En gineering at University of New Haven & President of the Connecticut Association of Purchasing Managers
Full of valuable tips, techniques, illustrative real-world examples, exhibits, and best practices, this handy and concise paperback will help you stay up to date on the newest thinking, strategies, developments, and technologies in licensing intellectual property. Order your copy today!

Intellectual Property Examples & Explanations (The Examples & Explanations Series) (Paperback)
by Stephen M. McJohn
Reviewer - Domo Kun: This book has pretty good coverage of topics: Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets. The information is pretty complete, but could be organized better. My main complaint is that there is no table of case law. This is a pretty serious ommission from a law book. No table of statutes, either. And the index is pretty sucky too - no entries for "cybersquatting", "GATT", "Licensing", "genericide" - I won't go on, but I could.

Intellectual Property: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright (Nutshell Series) (Paperback)
by Arthur Raphael Miller, Michael H. Davis
It has been said, with respect to tort law that anyone can recognize a punch in the nose. Unlike a punch in the nose, "Patents and copyrights approach, nearer than any other class of cases belonging to forensic discussion to what may be called the metaphysics of the law, where the distinctions are, or at least may be, very subtle and refined, and, sometimes, almost evanescent." This text, by famed Harvard professor Arthur Miller, includes patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Further, it addresses torts and property; antitrust and government regulation; concepts of federalism and state and federal conflicts. The text provides the scope and highlights you need to excel in understanding this field. This will enable you to answer exam questions more quickly and accurately, and enhance your skills as an attorney (advocate).

Intellectual Property: Valuation, Exploitation, and Infringement Damages, 2006 Supplement
by Gordon V. Smith, Russell L. Parr
This book is designed to simplify the process of attaching a dollar amount to intangible assets, be it for licensing, mergers and acquisitions, loan collateral, or investment purposes. It provides practical tools for evaluating the investment aspects of licensing and joint venture decisions, and discusses the legal, tax, and accounting practices and procedures related to such arrangements; examines the business economics of strategies involving intellectual property licensing and joint ventures; and provides analytical models that can be used to determine reasonable royalty rates for licensing and for determining fair equity splits in joint venture arrangements.

Intellectual Property: Omnipresent, Distracting, Irrelevant? (Clarendon Law Lectures) (May 6, 2004)
Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are increasingly significant elements of economic policy: they are vital to developed countries in an age of global trade. This book focuses on the major dilemmas that currently enmesh the subject: the omnipresent spread of IPRs across some recent technologies, the distraction caused by rights that achieve little of their intended purpose, and the seeming irrelevance of IPRs in the face of new technologies such as the internet.

Trade Secret Case Law

Advanced Modular Sputtering, Inc. v. Super. Ct. of Santa Barbara - 09/13/05 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - California Appellate Districts.
Code of Civil Procedure section 2019.210, which provides that discovery relating to a trade secret may not commence until the trade secret is identified with reasonable particularity, extends to any cause of action which relates to the trade secret.

Ajaxo, Inc. v. E*Trade Group, Inc. - 12/21/05 - Intellectual Property, Remedies, Trade Secrets, Cyberspace Law, Evidence -
California Appellate Districts.
Misappropriation of plaintiff's trade secrets regarding certain technology designed by plaintiff. There was sufficient evidence of damages for misappropriation as to each defendant to survive a motion for nonsuit.

Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co. v. Roth - 05/07/07 - misappropriation of trade secrets in the form of client lists. - U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets in the form of client lists. Preliminary injunction in favor of plaintiffs is affirmed in part where the information in plaintiff's client database was a trade secret entitling plaintiff to an injunction.

APG, Inc. v. MCI Telecomms. Corp. - 02/08/06 - Retail, Trade Secrets - U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.
Summary judgment and judgment as a matter of law in favor of defendant vacated in part where the facts left open the possibility of liability on a theory of unjust enrichment.

Auto Channel, Inc. v. Speedvision Network, LLC, 144 F. Supp. 2d 784, 788-89 (W.D. Ky. 2001) - allowing a plaintiff to plead common law theories regarding the same information as a trade secret claim "would undermine the uniformity and clarity that motivated the creation and passage of the Uniform Act.".

BASS - 07/03/03 - Trade Secrets - Supreme Court of Texas
Geological seismic data are trade secrets, and non-participating mineral royalty interest owners failed to establish the existence of a claim against the mineral estate owner, justifying discovery of the trade secret data.

Baxter Int'l, Inc. v. Abbott Lab.
U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals
A renewed motion to place documents under seal, based on a claim of commercially sensitive information, is denied where it does not analyze in detail, document by document, the propriety of secrecy, providing legal citations and reasons in support.

BBA Nonwovens Simpsonville, Inc. v. Superior Nonwovens, LLC - 08/30/02 - statutory requirements for existence of a trade secret under South Carolina law, Patent, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets. - U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals
Claimed trade secret technology satisfied each of the statutory requirements for existence of a trade secret under South Carolina law, and the record supported a finding of willful misappropriation.

BondPro Corp. v. Siemens Power Generation, Inc. - 09/12/06 - disputed invention did not meet the criteria for a trade secret. - U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judgment as a matter of law for defendant in a trade secrets suit involving a manufacturing technique is affirmed where the disputed invention did not meet the criteria for a trade secret.

Bourns, Inc. v. Raychem Corp. - 06/05/03 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets, misappropriation, inevitable disclosure - U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Findings of misappropriation and associated damages are affirmed.

BP Chem. v. Jiangsu SOPO Corp. - 08/25/05 - Intellectual Property, International Law, Trade Secrets, misappropriation of trade secrets. - U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Suit alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, plaintiff has marshalled sufficient facts in support of its pleadings to survive defendant's factual jurisdictional challenge under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

Bridgestone/Firesstone, Inc. - 05/22/03 - Trade Secrets - Mere possibility of unfairness is not enough to warrant disclosure of the information. - Supreme Court of Texas.
Plaintiffs in defective tire litigation are not entitled to discovery of defendant's "skim stock" formulas, which are trade secrets, as mere possibility of unfairness is not enough to warrant disclosure of the information.

Cadence Design Sys., Inc. v. Avant! Corp. - 11/21/02 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets, California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). - Supreme Court of California.
Trade secret infringement action under the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). Continued improper use or disclosure of a trade secret after defendant's initial misappropriation is viewed as part of a single claim of "continuing misappropriation" accruing at the time of the initial misappropriation.

Cadence Design Sys., Inc. v. Avant! Corp. - 06/11/01 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
California Supreme Court certified to determine whether, under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, an infringment arises only upon the initial misappropriation of the trade secret or with each subsequent misuse of the trade secret.

Chemetall GMBH v. ZR Energy, Inc. - 02/25/03 - Intellectual Property, Employment Law, Trade Secrets - U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Illinois law. The question whether plaintiff acquired the right to enforce an employee's duty of confidentiality could not be decided on the contracts alone, and the parties were entitled to present evidence on the issue at trial.

Children's Broadcasting Corp. v. The Walt Disney Co. - 01/26/04 -
U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
On retrial for damages, evidence supported the jury verdict on damages due to misappropriation of a trade secret.

ConFold Pac., Inc. v. Polaris Indus., Inc. - 01/10/06 - Intellectual Property, Manufacturing, Trade Secrets. - U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
suit for breach of contract and unjust enrichment involving a proposal containing a shipping container design. Contract at issue did not bind defendant from revealing to a third party plaintiff's proposed container design.

Doeblers' Pennsylvania Hybrids, Inc. v. Doebler - 03/23/06 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets, Trademark - U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Trademark and trade secret dispute between corn-seed businesses owned by relatives of the same founder is reversed where plaintiff did not meet its burden of showing that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

DTM Research, L.L.C. v. AT&T Corp. - 03/27/01 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
A defendant in a trade secrets case is not entitled to summary judgment on the ground that a protective order, based on the governments' assertion of a "state secrets" privilege, precluded it from defending the case effectively.

DVD Copy Control Ass'n., Inc. v. Bunner. - Cyberspace Law, Intellectual Property, Remedies, Trade Secrets - 116 Cal. App. 4th 241, 251 (2004) (widespread Internet postings destroyed secrecy). - Supreme Court of California.
A preliminary injunction prohibiting a web site operator from disclosing trade secrets violates neither the First Amendment nor the California Constitution, assuming the trial court properly issued the injunction under California's trade secret law.

DVD Copy Control Ass'n., Inc. v. Bunner - 11/01/01 - Cyberspace Law, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - California Appellate Districts.
A computer source code which describes an alternative method of decrypting copy protection on DVD's is pure "speech" protected by the First Amendment.

Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP - 08/30/06 - California Appellate Districts.
Noncompetition agreement prohibiting employee from performing services for former clients is invalid under Business and Professions Code section 16000 unless it falls within statutory or "trade secret" exceptions to statute.

Elecs. For Imaging, Inc. v. Coyle - - 08/18/03 - Patent, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Plaintiff established a prima facie case that personal jurisdiction over defendants would be proper and comports with due process.

Empire Steam Laundry v. Lozier, 165 Cal. 95, 96 (1915) - customer list "a trade secret of great value"; this case was also the first to hold that what is now Business & Professions Code section 16600 does not void trade secrecy obligations because "Equity always protects against the unwarranted disclosure and unconscionable use of trade secrets and confidential business communications."

Four Pillars Enter. Co. v. Avery Dennison Corp. - 10/24/02 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets. - U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Magistrate judge did not abuse his discretion in concluding that a discovery order for trade secret material, under 28 U.S.C. section 1782, would improperly frustrate a protective order issued by an Ohio court in a separate action between the same parties.

Gate-Way, Inc. v. Wilson, 94 Cal. App. 2d 706, 714 (1949) (no secret where aspects of plaintiff's process for coating metal were in the public domain).

General Universal Sys. Inc. v. HAL Inc. - 09/17/07 - claim of trade secret misappropriation against certain defendants was time barred.

GO Computer Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. - 11/19/07 - alleging trade secret theft and antitrust injuries. - U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Guy Carpenter & Co., Inc. v. Provenzale - 06/18/03 - Employment Law, Trade Secrets, Customer list. - U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. A customer list was not a trade secret where it was readily ascertainable.

Hacny Transp. v. Chu -10/31/05 - misappropriation of trade secrets. - U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Claims for misappropriation of trade secrets are foreclosed by Section 8(a) of the Illinois Trade Secrets Act only when they rest on the conduct that is said to have misappropriated the secrets.

Harvey Barnett, Inc. v. Shidler - 08/06/03 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals
Summary judgment was not appropriate on whether an "Infant Swimming Program," viewed comprehensively, was a trade secret under Colorado law; district court erred in determining that a confidentiality provision in a license agreement was a disguised restrictive covenant.

Herric v. Garvey - 07/24/02 - Trade secret exemption, Freedom of Information Act, Trade Secrets - U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals
The "trade secret" exemption, to the Freedom of Information Act's general requirement that the federal government release information to the public, will bar a request to the FAA for plans and specifications regarding an antique aircraft.

Hicklin Eng LC v. Bartell, R.J. - 02/22/06 - trade secret case. - U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Summary judgment for the plaintiff in a trade secret case is reversed after a finding that a reasonable jury could have determined that the defendant, an independent contractor, knew that the plaintiff company treated at least some of the data it provided him as trade secrets.

Huong Que, Inc. v. Luu - 04/30/07 -
California Appellate Districts
Order temporarily enjoining defendants from engaging in certain activities found by the trial court to constitute, among other things, tortious disloyalty to, and interference with the business of plaintiffs is affirmed.

IDX Sys. Corp. v. Epic Sys. Corp. - 04/01/02 - Cyberspace Law, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Where a software manufacturer failed to precisely define its trade secret, summary judgment on its claim against former employees, alleging trade secret theft, was proper; however, the dismissal of its claims of tortious inducement of former customers to switch software providers was reversed.

Imaging Bus. Machs., LLC v. BancTec, Inc. - 08/10/06 - Cyberspace Law, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets. - U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Finding on the preliminary injunction motion that plaintiff lacked a trade secret was not the result of resolving all disputes and drawing all inferences in the light most favorable to plaintiff.

Incase Inc. v. Timex Corp. - 05/24/07 - misappropriation of trade secret and unfair trade practices. - U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.
Claims of misappropriation of trade secret, unfair trade practices, breach of contract, and implied contract: Judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) on the trade secret claim is affirmed where there was no evidence to support plaintiff's argument that it took reasonable steps to preserve the secrecy of the design in question.

Jasmine Networks, Inc. v. Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. - 04/08/04 - Patent, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - California
Appellate Districts
Disclosure of a transcript of a conversation among defendant's officers and lawyers that was inadvertently left on plaintiff's voicemail system. Defendant waived its attorney-client privilege by disclosing the information within the meaning of section 912(a).

Learning Curve Toys, Inc. v. Playwood Toys, Inc. - 08/18/03 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets -
U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Plaintiff had a protectable trade secret in a concept for a noise-producing toy railroad track under the Illinois Trade Secrets Act; a rational jury could conclude that exemplary damages were justified.

Leggett & Platt, Inc. v. Hickory Springs Mfg. Co. - 04/02/02 - Patent, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets, doctrine of equivalents and trade secret misappropriation. - U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Genuine issues of material fact preclude summary judgment on infringement under the doctrine of equivalents and trade secret misappropriation.

Lucini Italia Co. v. Grappolini - 05/07/02 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets, misappropriation of trade secrets. - U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Misappropriation of gourmet food company's trade secrets.

Luigino's, Inc. v. Peterson - 01/30/03 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets -
U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Summary judgment was proper in breach of fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation, corporate usurpation, trade secret misappropriation, and breach of confidentiality agreement claims.

Manuel v. Convergys Corp. - 11/15/05 - Employment Law, Trade Secrets - U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Summary: Summary judgment for plaintiff in a contract action is affirmed. Noncompetition agreement was void and unenforceable under Georgia law

Microstrategy Inc. v. Bus. Objects - 11/17/05 - Intellectual Property, Patent, Remedies, Trade Secrets. - U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals.
District court erred in determining that Virginia law would not acknowledge plaintiff's contractual non-solicitation clause.

Mid-Michigan Computer Sys. v. Marc Glassman, Inc. - 07/20/05 - Trade Secrets - U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mike's Train House v. Lionel, L.L.C. - 12/14/06 - misappropriation of trade secrets.

Millennium Corp. Solutions v. Peckinpaugh - 02/01/05 -
California Appellate Districts
Suit concerning the misappropriation of trade secrets, the grant of a preliminary injunction against plaintiff-brokerage firm is affirmed over its challenge that it was deprived of its right to a fair hearing.

Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co. v. Pribyl - 07/25/01 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets, Misappropriation trade secrets. - U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Evidence that plaintiff took six years to develop its process, but that the company founded by plaintiff's employees developed a similar process almost immediately, is sufficient for a jury inference that defendants misappropriated plaintiff's trade secrets.

Monolith Portland Midwest Co. v. Kaiser Aluminum & Chem. Corp., 407 F.2d 288, 290-91 (9th Cir. 1969) (action over technical information styled as "misappropriation of its confidential business information."

Moore v. Kulicke & Soffa Indus., Inc. - 02/03/03 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.
Pennsylvania trade secret law, only the burden of production is shifted when defendant raises independent development, and the ultimate burden remains on plaintiff to prove that defendant did not arrive at a technique similar to the trade secret through its own independent development.

Navigant Consulting Inc. v. Wilkinson - 11/15/07 - alleging breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation of trade secrets. - U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Action brought against two of plaintiff-consulting company's former employees alleging breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and misappropriation of trade secrets. Judgment against defendants is affirmed.

O'Grady v. Santa Clara Superior Ct. (Apple Computer, Inc.) - 05/26/06 - California Appellate Districts.
Cyberspace Law, Trade Secrets.
Federal Stored Communications Act, California reporter's shield, conditional constitutional privilege against compulsory disclosure of confidential sources.

PAVLOVICH v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY ( DVD COPY CONTROL ASS'N, INC.)
- 11/25/02 - Cyberspace Law, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - Supreme Court of California.
Court exercising personal jurisdiction over a defendant, based on a posting on an Internet Web site, was improper because defendant's knowledge that his conduct may harm industries centered in California did not, by itself, establish express aiming.

P.C. Yonkers, Inc. v. Celebrations - 11/07/05 - Retail, Trade Secrets, White Collar Crime - U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.
Plaintiffs failed to adduce sufficient proof that defendants-former employees violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

Peat v. Vanguard Research - 07/21/04 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
Trade secrets case. Jury verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff is reversed because the erroneous and prejudicial admission of a summary exhibit constituted reversible error.

Penalty Kick Mgmt. Ltd. v. Coca-Cola Co. - 01/27/03 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Plaintiff failed to provide evidence of defendant's actual disclosure or unauthorized use of plaintiff's trade secrets under the Georgia Trade Secrets Act (GTSA).

People v. Laiwala - 10/06/06 - no reasonable cause to support a finding that the information at issue was a trade secret. - California Appellate Districts.
Defendant established, and the prosecutor failed to refute, that there is no reasonable cause to support a finding that the information at issue was a trade secret. The record contains insufficient evidence that the "master key" associated with a DVD copy protection scheme had "independent economic value." Thus it was not shown to qualify as a trade secret under Penal Code section 499c.

PepsiCo, Inc. v. Redmond, 54 F.3d 1262 (7th Cir. 1995), there is discussion of when disclosure of trade secrets is “inevitable.”

Philip Morris, Inc. v. Reilly - 12/04/02 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.
A Massachusetts law, requiring tobacco companies to submit to the state the ingredient lists for certain tobacco products sold in the state, is an unconstitutional taking of property (trade secrets) in violation of due process.

Phillips v. AWH Corp. - 04/08/04 - Patent, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals
Trade secret misappropriation claim was correctly dismissed as time-barred.

Positive Software Solutions, Inc. v. New Century Mortgage Corp. - 01/11/06 - Trade Secrets, Copyright, Cyberspace Law,
Ethics & Professional Responsibility. - U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Providian Credit Card Cases - 02/20/02 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - California Appellate Districts
Rules 243.1 and 243.2 of the California Rules of Court vest a trial court with a considerable amount of discretion in deciding whether to seal or unseal a judicial record and, in light of the strong presumption in favor of public access, unsealing records containing alleged trade secrets was not an abuse of discretion.

Readylink Healthcare v. Cotton - 02/14/05 - Employment Law, Trade Secrets - California Appellate Districts.
Trial court's enforcement of plaintiff-employer's noncompetition agreement is affirmed where there is sufficient evidence establishing that defendant-employee intended to use protectable trade secret information stolen from plaintiff.

Rhone-Poulenc Agro, S.A. v. Dekalb Genetics Corp. - 09/29/03 - Biotech, Intellectual Property, Patent, Trade Secrets, misappropriation of trade secrets. - U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals.
On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the fraudulent inducement, trade secret misappropriation, and patent infringement jury verdicts in favor of plaintiff, as well as the award of punitive damages and several related post-trial rulings made by the district court, are affirmed.

San Jose Constr., Inc. v. S.B.C.C., Inc. - 10/12/07 - action for misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition. - California Appellate Districts.
Action by plaintiff-construction company against its former employee and his new employer, summary judgment for the new employer is reversed. There were triable issues of fact with regard to causes of action for misappropriation of trade secrets, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and unfair competition.

Sargent Fletcher, Inc. v. Able Corp. - 08/07/03 - Intellectual Property, Manufacturing, Trade Secrets - misappropriation of trade secrets under the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Plaintiff's ultimate burden to prove absence of independent derivation. - California Appellate Districts.
Action by a manufacturer against a subcontractor for misappropriation of trade secrets under the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act, the trial court correctly refused the manufacturer's proposed instruction to place the burden of proof on defendant.

Savor, Inc. v. FMR Corp. - 11/25/02 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets -
Supreme Court of Delaware.
Complaint seeking relief from misappropriation of trade secrets met the minimal standards governing notice pleading, and thus adequately stated a claim.

Schlage Lock Co. v. Whyte - 09/12/02 - The inevitable disclosure doctrine. Restriction of employee mobility, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets, Employment Law - California Appellate Districts.
Inevitable disclosure doctrine, permitting a trade secret owner to prevent a former employee from working for a competitor, is contrary to California law and policy because it creates an after-the-fact covenant not to compete restricting employee mobility.

SL Montevideo Tech., Inc. v. Eaton Aerospace, LLC - 07/12/07 - misuse of protected proprietary information.

State Farm MUT. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Garamendi - 04/26/04 - Insurance Law, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - Supreme Court of California.
Exemption from disclosure of information protected by the trade secret privilege. California Code of Regulations permitting public inspection of statements that insurers are required to file, is valid; the public disclosure provision of Insurance Code section 1861.07 does not incorporate the exemption from disclosure found in Government Code section 6254(k), and thus does not exempt from disclosure information protected by the trade secret privilege.

State Farm MUT. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Low - 10/17/01 - Insurance Law, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - California Appellate Districts.
California Code of Regulations, title 10, section 2646.6(c) and Insurance Code section 1861.07 permit public disclosure of Community Service Statements that insurance companies file under Proposition 103 even if they contain trade secrets.

Stratienko v. Cordis Corp. - 11/18/05 - Intellectual Property, Patent, Trade Secrets and misappropriation of trade secret. - U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Summary judgment for defendant on contract and misappropriation of trade secret claims involving a catheter device is affirmed. Plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence of similarity between defendant's catheter and his trade secret.

Strategic Directions Group, Inc. v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. - 06/12/02 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets, research surveys were not trade secrets. - U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
Questions that a pharmaceutical company used in research surveys were not trade secrets because they were readily ascertainable in public sources, and its use of three of the questions in a follow-up survey did not breach an agreement with a market research company.

Synergetics, Inc. v. Hurst - misappropriation of trade secrets. - 02/05/07 - U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Action by a company against former employees for breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets.

Triple Tee Golf, Inc. v. Nike, Inc. - 04/17/07 - misappropriation of trade secrets.

Unilogic, Inc. v. Burroughs Corp., 10 Cal. App. 4th 612, 629 (1992) - plaintiff's failure to show defendant's commercial use of trade secret was insufficient basis for nonsuit.

Uroplasty, Inc v. Advanced Uroscience, Inc., - 02/13/01 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secret - U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals
Because plaintiff's trade secrets misappropriation action does not implicate federal patent law, removal from state court was improper, and the district court lacked jurisdiction to enter summary judgment for defendant.

US v. Yang - 02/20/02 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets -
U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
Where the defendants believed the information they conspired and attempted to steal was a trade secret, the fact that the information was not an actual trade secret was irrelevant, as the defense of impossibility is unavailable to defendants charged under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, 18 U.S.C. sections 1832(a)(4) and (5).

US v. Ye - 02/02/06 - Trade Secrets, White Collar Crime.
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
Petition for a writ of mandamus challenging a discovery order involving pretrial depositions of government witnesses in a prosecution for possession of stolen trade secrets is granted where the Bauman factors weighed strongly in favor of granting such relief. Bauman v. U.S. Dist. Court, 557 F.2d 650 (9th Cir. 1977).

Vliw Tech., LLC v. Hewlett-Packard Co. - 12/19/03 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - Supreme Court of Delaware.
Contract provisions regarding confidentiality and restricting the use of the licensed technology were sufficiently ambiguous to survive dismissal.

Western Forms, Inc. v. Pickell - 10/25/02 - Trade Secrets, Employment Law - U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
District court did not err in finding defendant did not breach confidentiality or use trade secrets, as the materials plaintiff seeks to protect are not protectable.

Will v. Hallock - 01/18/06 - Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets - U.S. Supreme Court.

Wyeth v. Natural Biologics, Inc. - 01/24/05 - Biotech, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets -
U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
District court did not err in finding defendant misappropriated plaintiff's trade secret for producing bulk natural conjugated estrogens used in the development of Premarin.

Yield Dynamics, Inc. v. TEA Sys. Corp. - 08/23/07 - failure to establish that the computer code constituted a trade secret. - California Appellate Districts.
Dispute with former emp