LITIGATION
Diving into the Trade Secrets Debate: The Listing Predicament By DAVID PARDUE this group argued, the list will never be complete or current because trade secrets are complex and constantly evolving.
SOMETHING WE CAN ALL AGREE ON
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o list or not to list. That is the question. At least it was the question during a trade secrets summit earlier this year in Boston, where I found myself in the middle of a captivating debate. As essentially the only lawyer there who primarily defends trade secrets lawsuits, here’s the stand I took: The defense will attack your company’s sufficiency of establishing
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a trade secret no matter what, so you’re better off having a list of your trade secrets than not. On the other side of this debate, counsel for some large technology companies argued that creating a list leaves the chance of inadvertently missing something. This group’s position was that failure to properly list the trade secrets could lead to a loss at trial — so why take the risk of a list? Plus,
JANUARY 2024
Even with these fundamental differences, both sides agreed that trade secrets need to be actively managed to be protected and to maximize the intellectual property of the business. Trade secrets often are what distinguishes one company from its competitors. Think of a trade secret like a company’s secret sauce. The last thing a company wants is for an employee to leave for a competitor and walk out the door with the sauce recipe. Yet, few companies are doing a good job of managing their trade secret portfolio. So, when an employee does leave and an alleged trade secret or proprietary information goes with them, it is my experience that companies are often caught flat-footed. At the core of the debate are some big-time consequences.
SECRETS IN THE SKY Look no further than a recent jury verdict in a years-long court case involving the manufacturers of airplane wing parts. One aircraft parts manufacturer accused the other of allegedly stealing its information BACK TO CONTENTS
