Trade Secrets
Trade secrets can play a significant role in driving business success and maintaining market leadership.
Our expertise
With a thorough understanding of intellectual property law and a keen focus on innovation protection, our team is equipped to assist with every aspect of trade secret management.
Our team can help identify when trade secret protection may be preferable over another IP right and help put in place the necessary procedures to minimise risk of trade secret loss. Specifically, our patent attorneys can help with the implementation of a trade secret management programme.
Our experience
We regularly advise on invention harvesting processes that help clients to identify key trade secrets opportunities within their businesses. The outcome of which, will help advise the considerations to make when developing policies for a trade secret management programme.
In our experience, there are various factors that will need to be considered when setting out a process for managing trade secrets. These factors include:
- Restricting access to only those people that need to know, e.g., use of encryption/password protection, and ensuring those people understand the secret nature of the information,
- Monitoring and keeping logs of access to secret information,
- Regular training of employees and putting in place measures to ensure policy is followed,
- Conducting exit interviews when staff leave/providing advice to new employees regarding trade secrets,
- Contractual obligations relating to management of third-party trade secrets,
- Confidentiality agreements with employees,
- Regular monitoring of policy effectiveness,
- Value of the secret information.
In addition, we can assist in developing suitable policies together with the support of solicitors where necessary (e.g. on matters relating to contract and employment law).
Having a registry of trade secrets is helpful for control and management of this valuable form of intellectual property. We also advise on how this can be implemented and managed.
For further information please contact the group's lead attorney:
