Trade Secrets

Trade Secrets may include:

Trade secret protection can last for an unlimited duration.

Trade secrets must be maintained in confidence and can provide the owner with the right to prevent others from using or disseminating the protected information.

Trade Secrets

Pennsylvania adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act on April 19, 2004. The Act defines trade secrets in a broad manner. The Act provides various remedies for trade secret misappropriation. These remedies are essentially uniform among the states that adopted the Uniform Trade Secret Act.

Pennsylvania has defined trade secrets to include: formulas; drawings; patterns; compilations (i.e. customer lists); programs; devices; methods; techniques; and processes. Under Pennsylvania law, it must derive independent economic value and must be protected by reasonable efforts to maintain secrecy.

Protection

I can help clients obtain and maintain trade secret protection.

Trade secrets do not have to be registered with federal or state agencies. Rather, trade secret protection can be obtained through agreements. These agreements can be entered into with employees or with third parties.

Trade secrets can also be protected through common sense methods, such as computer security, labeling sensitive documents “confidential”, other proprietary labels, and excluding the public from sensitive areas of the workplace.

Litigation

I can represent clients in trade secret litigation.

Trade secret litigation can be the result of a dispute between a trade secret owner and a party who is accused of misappropriating the trade secret. Often, the parties will try to resolve their dispute through the negotiation of license.

In the event that the parties do not reach an agreement, one of the parties may decide to file a lawsuit to resolve the dispute. Most, if not all, parties to a lawsuit hire attorneys to represent them in the suit.
Trade secret lawsuits can be filed in state court or in federal court.