A “trade secret” is any proprietary information that someone possesses that may give them a competitive advantage over others. Anyone who claims rights to a trade secret must be able to clearly define what it is and take reasonable steps to protect it from being made public.
Many individuals have difficulty making sense of what qualifies as a trade secret. Devices, formulas, recipes and patterns may all be considered as such. Any recruiting, accounting and other financial or legal information may also be thought of as a trade secret. Training manuals, blueprints or drawings or training results may be as well. Any customer data, purchase or marketing materials can be considered as trade secrets. So, too, can any unpatented products, designs, processes or research regarding any of these.
If a person or a company alleges that their trade secret was exposed, then a Louisville judge is going to want to know if the person who possesses it made a reasonable attempt to protect it. There are several ways that you can demonstrate that you made an earnest effort to keep it safe.
One of the first things that you should do if you possess a trade secret is to draft a written policy letting employees who may come into contact with it know that it shouldn’t be shared with any authorized individuals. You should also state in that confidentiality that you may sue them if they reveal this information and have them sign it.
It’s not enough if you have your employee sign a confidentiality agreement though. You should restrict who has access to it. You should also monitor your workers’ compliance with any confidentiality policies.
You should keep your trade secrets in a special place. The office building or computer where they’re stored needs to also be well-secured. You should indicate when documents contain proprietary information and that any unauthorized disclosure of such information is prohibited.
A company’s trade secrets give it an added advantage over its competitors. This can lead to an increased value for the products that they offer. There are many dangers to this information being made public. A business litigation attorney here in Louisville can review the measures that you’ve taken to protect your trade secrets and let you know if they were reasonable enough to warrant you filing a lawsuit against the person who revealed such information in your Kentucky case.