Technology-based and science-based trade secret claims are nuanced and often rise or fall on an ability to articulate complex trade secrets with specificity and show the value of their maintained secrecy.
UB Greensfelder’s diverse team of technology-savvy attorneys understand the importance of the know-how of clients’ businesses and the key role trade secrets play in maintaining a competitive advantage.
Who We Are
Our attorneys bring decades of trade secret trial, technology, and counseling experience to clients with complex technologies, software, source code, computer programs, formulas and other proprietary methodologies that they rely upon for a competitive advantage. This is over and above deep experience with other more traditional trade secrets concerning customer information, customer lists, pricing, and technical aspects of a product or process. Clear experience with what occurs when enforcing trade secrets holds powerful value when there is a problem in the marketplace, but it also informs critical counseling for proactive steps clients need to undertake before there is a misappropriation.
How We Help
Our team assists clients in multiple ways and at multiple junctures in their IP asset management. We counsel diverse companies in protecting their valuable trade secrets and varied technologies. This includes a sustainable agriculture technology startup, several leading software companies, a midsize manufacturer of chemical coatings, a Fortune 500 manufacturing company, and a Fortune 50 food company. We have also conducted dozens of reviews evaluating the protection of confidential information and trade secrets for a range of clients, from cutting-edge technology start-ups to international Fortune 500 companies.
We help our clients understand the power of trade secrets, how they can be protected, and where the evolving line between fair and unfair competition should be drawn. In protecting and enforcing your confidential and proprietary information, our attorneys provide a range of useful services, including but not limited to:
- Conducting careful audits to identify and inventory clients’ trade secrets, including interviewing key stakeholders and reviewing critical documents.
- Evaluating employee and third-party relationships, security measures, and geographic considerations in developing best practices to protect confidential information and trade secrets.
- Drafting, defending, and enforcing restrictive covenants and other agreements that clarify and strengthen the protection of trade secrets, including non-compete, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure agreements.
- Helping clients navigate contractual issues to ensure they are not violating others’ IP rights when developing new products or hiring new employees.
Marketplace Disruption
Once a trade secret is lost, it is lost forever. Technology based trade secrets claims add both technical complexity and nuanced legal issues to proceedings requiring urgent resolution in often fast paced proceedings. By the time there is a risk of misappropriation or the filing of a misappropriation claim, both the enforcer of the trade secret and the party defending against the claims, has to act urgently. We have obtained and defended against requests for temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. Our trial lawyers have taken these cases through initial strategy, early injunctive relief, complex discovery, expert analysis, early disposition at summary judgment, and trial on the merits and appeal in federal and state courts and arbitration forums across the country.
