Event Session
Trade Secrets: A Balancing Act of Protection and Pitfalls *
September 30, 2024 @ 10:30 AM EST – Knowles IP Strategies Ballroom
10:30 AM ET
September 30, 2024
Trade Secrets: A Balancing Act of Protection and Pitfalls *
The legal landscape in which businesses must choose between patents, trade secrets and other forms of protection has changed dramatically in recent years, mainly as a result of three forces. The first of these was a series of court rulings that collectively have narrowed the scope of patentable subject matter and have made patents more difficult to enforce. The second was the America Invents Act of 2011 (the “AIA”), which effectively eliminated or reduced certain risks of choosing secrecy, while providing new ways to challenge patents in administrative proceedings. Third was the passage of a federal trade secret statute, the Defense of Trade Secrets Act.
Despite the fragility of trade secrets, which could literally cease to exist at any moment upon the secret being let out, trade secrets are an important part of any intellectual property portfolio. This is even moreso today with the Federal Trade Commission attempting to outlaw non-compete agreements, which will mean that some of your employees who possess the most sensitive (and secret) business information could leave today and be employed by a competitor tomorrow.
This panel will discuss trade secret best practices, from identifying valuable information that can and should be protected, to choosing whether to pursue patent protection (and if so on what specifically), to actually properly protecting that information so it is really a trade secret, particularly in the scenario of collaborative innovation, with respect to digital objects, and for artificial intelligence related innovation.
Materials
- Four Factors to Consider When Deciding Whether to Use Trade Secrets
- Where Trade Secrets and Data Privacy Strategies Overlap
- AI and Trade Secrets, a Winning Combination
- Trade secrets in collaborative innovation
- Trade secrets and digital objects
Survey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Trade-Secrets-A-Balancing-Act-of-Protection-and-Pitfalls
The legal landscape in which businesses must choose between patents, trade secrets and other forms of protection has changed dramatically in recent years, mainly as a result of three forces. The first of these was a series of court rulings that collectively have narrowed the scope of patentable subject matter and have made patents more difficult to enforce. The second…
