Posts in Trade Secrets
Patents are from Mars, Trade Secrets are From Venus
Back in ancient times, in this case 1990, John Gray, an obscure “relationship counselor” with a correspondence degree in psychology, was perplexed. The communication problems of the heterosexual …
‘Improper Means’: The Eleventh Circuit’s Very Dubious Trade Secrets Decision in Compulife Software v. Newman (Part II)
Part 1of this article addressed the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in Compulife Software, Inc. v. Newman, __ F.3d __, 2020 WL 2549505, (11th Cir. May 20, 2020) and the court’s dubious …
Artificial Intelligence Can’t Patent Inventions: So What?
The USPTO’s recent landmark decision (16/524,350) concluding artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be a named patent inventor perhaps sparked fears of super-robots inventing critical technologies that, alas, receive …
A Dubious Decision: Eleventh Circuit Finds Scraping of Data from a Public Website Can Constitute Theft of Trade Secrets (Part I)
Much has already been written in a relatively short period of time since the Eleventh Circuit decided Compulife Software, Inc. v. Newman, __ F.3d __, 2020 WL 2549505, (11th Cir. …
Has China Finally Embraced Robust Trade Secret Protection?
It happened to Japan in the 1950s. Then it happened to Taiwan, and then Korea. Rapidly-developing countries started out relying on copying foreign technologies to drive their …
WIPO Revises and Expands AI Policy Issues
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has published a Revised Issue Paper on Artificial Intelligence and IP Policy. The Revised Issues Paper updates the Draft Issues Paper …
To Disclose Or Not to Disclose: Responding to Trade Secrets Misappropriation By an Employee
An employee comes to you with a recipe for your competitor’s “secret sauce.” You know she worked for your competitor before coming to work for you. …
Trade Secret Litigation Reports: Four Years After the Enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act
On May 11, 2016, President Obama signed into the law the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) which extended the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA), which provides a broad basis …
USTR Special 301 Report and Review of Notorious Markets Highlight Continued Concerns with China
On April 29, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released its 2020 Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Protection and its 2019 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting …
The Transmissibility of Information: How Your Trade Secrets Are Like a Virus
If you run a business that depends on data to drive success — and what business doesn’t these days? — this tendency of information assets to escape is …
Do Your ‘Home Work’: Keeping Trade Secrets Safe While Working Remotely
An essential element of trade secret protection is that the owner has made “reasonable” efforts to keep the information a secret. But as the Uniform Trade Secrets …
The Fragile Nature of Trade Secrets: Clues from the Courts on How to Keep Them
Trade secrets have become an increasingly valuable asset to many companies, but compared to other types of intellectual property, including patents, copyrights and trademarks, they are extremely “…
You Own It, Now What Are You Going to Do with It? – Why Trade Secrets Are Treated Like Property: Part 2
In last month’s post, Part 1 of this series, we considered the view of European academics that trade secrets are not “intellectual property” because they don’t …
The China Initiative: Combating Economic Espionage and Trade Secret Exfiltration
Open innovation is a key ingredient to the development of valuable intellectual property. Research institutions, universities, and private businesses work in close collaboration with one another, sharing …
Review of Key 2019 Trade Secret Decisions and Trends (Part II)
Part I of this series covered (1) Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, 139 S.Ct. 2356 (2020) in which the Supreme Court held that commercial or financial information that …
