Intellectual Property Law

More Than 145 Suspects Charged in US Export Enforcement Initiative

Posted on November 02, 2008
By Jim Kouri On a daily basis, foreign states as well as criminal and terrorist groups seek arms, technology, and other materials to advance their technological capacity, weapons systems and, in some cases, Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. With America producing the most advanced technology in the world, it has become a primary target of these illicit technology acquisition efforts...

IBM Files Suit to Keep Chip Exec From Apple

Posted on November 02, 2008
By David Needle Complaint says Mark Papermaster has key trade secrets about cutting edge tech that Apple shouldn't hire away. That's one reason the computer giant has filed a lawsuit against a former executive, Mark Papermaster, to prevent him from joining Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and honor a non-compete clause in his employment contract...

Taylor Recycling cleared in lawsuit over trade secrets

Posted on October 30, 2008
By Michael Levensohn Times Herald-Record Taylor, located in Montgomery, has been working for several years on a gasification process that turns organic waste into a gas that can be burned to generate electricity. The lawsuit stemmed from an aborted joint venture between Taylor and FERCO Enterprises, now known as SilvaGas...

Fairness and The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine

Posted on October 29, 2008
When Trade Secrets Become Shackles: Fairness and The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine Elizabeth A. Rowe Tulane Journal of Technology & Intellectual Property, Vol. 7, 2005 Should an employer be able to enjoin an employee from working for a competitor when the employee did not sign a non-competition agreement? Under the inevitable disclosure doctrine, an employer may obtain such an injunction on the theory that the employee knows so much of the employer's trade secrets, that it is inevitable she will disclose these secrets to the competitor...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

The India Innovation Bill, 2008, and Trade Secrets: Part II @ SpicyIP

Posted on October 29, 2008
This outstanding series of posts is from our friends at SpicyIP Blog Posted by Mihir Naniwadekar In an earlier post, I had looked at some of the provisions in the Innovation Bill, 2008 dealing with the protection of trade secrets. This post continues that discussion, and I now focus on a few areas in the Bill which are likely to be controversial...

Enterprises Face Losses From Trade Secret Thefts

Posted on October 29, 2008
By: Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service Enterprises are stepping up efforts to counter spying operations that aim to steal their trade secrets, according to a former U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who now works for Xerox. Companies such as Wal-Mart, DirecTV and Motorola have in recent years been victimized by employees or others who stole sensitive data, said David Drab, a principal in Xerox's information and content security services section...

A TRADE SECRETS PRACTICE WITH EXTRAORDINARY BENCH STRENGTH AND A STRONG SENSE OF ECONOMIC TRENDS

Posted on October 28, 2008
Metropolitan Corporate Counsel Volume 16, Number 9 Northeast Edition The Editor interviews Robert R. Baron, Jr., Partner, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. Editor: Mr. Baron, would you tell our readers something about your practice and professional background? Baron: My practice is focused on intellectual property litigation and complex business litigation...

WHEN TRADE SECRETS ARE SENT BY COMPUTER : FEDERAL LAW OFFERS ANOTHER WEAPON TO COMPANIES SEEKING PROTECTION

Posted on October 28, 2008
The Connecticut Law Tribune Vol 34, No. 43 David S. Poppick A former employee, with a few computer keystrokes, sends his employer's confidential, proprietary documents and information from his work computer to his personal home computer before joining a competitor...

DENTAL IMPLANT COMPANY PAYS COMPETITOR $2M EMPLOYEE RAIDS, TRADE SECRET THEFTS WERE ROOT CAUSES OF LAWSUIT

Posted on October 28, 2008
Connecticut Law Tribune Vol 34, No. 43 Christian Nolan Nobel Biocare USA LLC v. Keystone Dental Inc., et al: An upstart company in the dental implant market that was accused of stealing 18 employees from the industry leader has agreed to pay $2 million in damages as part of a settlement agreement...

Duo Charged In Hacking, Stealing Trade Secrets

Posted on October 28, 2008
NEW YORK--Two former employees of a fashion industry company have been charged with computer hacking and stealing trade secrets. Jeffrey White, 27, of Brooklyn and Morgan Gantt, 24, of Jersey City, NJ, face charges arising out of an alleged scheme to hack into a computer network belonging to ENK International LLC ("ENK") and to steal confidential business information from ENK White and Gantt are former employees of ENK, a trade show organization based in Manhattan that serves the fashion industry...

ASSET MARKETING SYSTEMS, INC., Plaintiff-counter-defendant-Appellee v. Kevin GAGNON, d/b/a Mister Computer, Defendant-counter-claimant-Appellant.

Posted on October 28, 2008
A field marketing organization, which offered sales and marketing support to insurance marketing entities, brought action in state court against at-will, independent contractor, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and conversion. Contractor obtained removal, and filed counterclaims, alleging, inter alia, copyright infringement, unfair competition, and misappropriation of trade secrets...

The India Innovation Bill, 2008, and Trade Secrets: Part I @ SpicyIP

Posted on October 27, 2008
This outstanding contribution is from our friends at SpicyIP Blog Posted by Mihir Naniwadekar A previous post on this blog looked at some of the important provisions in the National Innovation Bill, 2008. I now look at the impact which the Bill may have on the important area of protection of trade secrets...

AOL and GMC Extend 'Trade Secrets' Video Series

Posted on October 27, 2008
Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone, Home Improvement Authority Eric Stromer and Decorating Expert Kelly Edwards Offer Consumer Tips with GMC Vehicle Integration NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AOL and GMC have extended their "Trade Secrets" video series on AOL Living, http://living...

Global accounting rules could reveal trade secrets

Posted on October 26, 2008
By Marine Cole Big fear: Vague standards may require too much disclosure. The push for global accounting standards will create more difficulties than companies may anticipate, experts warned at a conference earlier this month on the transition to international financial reporting standards from U...

Spreading the Word Is No Secret in the N.F.L.

Posted on October 25, 2008
By JUDY BATTISTA In the N.F.L.'s version of phone-a-friend, the calls start on Monday, coach to coach, player to player, trolling for the subtleties of a game plan -- a code word here, a tendency there -- that only a trusted colleague would share. It is the sort of conversation Brett Favre had with the former Detroit Lions president Matt Millen a few weeks ago, one that began with hunting talk, only to turn -- as Favre suspected it would -- into a fishing expedition for information about his old team...

When $700 billion is a low number

Posted on October 24, 2008
By: David Rice Numbers are interesting. At times, numbers almost feel to possess a physical quality about them; numbers represent something we can hold, even if we cannot actually touch. Really big numbers, even those starting in the millions might be difficult to fathom at first, but somehow we're able to get our head around them; to hold them and manipulate them...

New Zealand: Intellectual Property Due Diligence

Posted on October 24, 2008
Article by Simon Rowell In-Depth Due Diligence Trade Secrets The purpose of trade secret due diligence is to determine the existence of valuable trade secrets, determine how well those secrets have been kept and identify any potential leaks of the secret...

Appellate court reverses Lufkin trade secret conviction

Posted on October 23, 2008
By JESSICA SAVAGE The Lufkin Daily News Thursday, October 23, 2008 A Texarkana appellate court has reversed a Lufkin jury conviction of an Alto man, ordering he be acquitted of theft of trade secrets because of insufficient evidence. The Texas Court of Appeals in the sixth district handed down the opinion Oct...

An Overview of Massachusetts Trade Secret Law

Posted on October 23, 2008
By Marc C. Laredo Virtually all business entities have information that they consider proprietary and confidential. Whether such information is truly a trade secret whose use by others can be limited or barred depends on a number of factors, including the nature of the information sought to be protected and the measures taken to preserve its confidentiality...

Trade Secrets: Protection Best Practices

Posted on October 22, 2008
By R. Todd Wilson All businesses have trade secrets. Stated slightly differently, every business has information that it would rather keep confidential. A trade secret can be any useful information that is not generally known. Trade secrets encompass both technical information such as formulas, designs, tools, manufacturing processes, and computer source code as well as business secrets including customer lists, employee lists, financial and accounting data, product plans and marketing plans...

Parts of a statutory law on trade secrets proposed in a draft bill by an Indian ministry have been described as "absolutely absurd" by an IP lawyer in the country

Posted on October 22, 2008
Managing Intellectual Property Parts of a statutory law on trade secrets proposed in a draft bill by an Indian ministry have been described as "absolutely absurd" by an IP lawyer in the country The proposals are part of a draft National Innovation Act drafted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and released by the Ministry of Science and Technology last week...

Tex App - Information at issue was clearly not a trade secret.

Posted on October 21, 2008
Bluebonnet Petroleum v. Kolkhorst Petroleum Bluebonnet challenged a summary judgment in favor of Kolkhorst and also appealed the denial of its motion for partial summary judgment. The appellate court affirmed, rejecting the notion that the mere identity of the potential accounts on which Robinson was working when he left Bluebonnet was a trade secret...

Surgery Tool Maker Sues Rival Over Drill Guide Patent

Posted on October 21, 2008
CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct 21, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Clearwater-based Orthopedic Development Corporation (ODC), the maker of the TruFUSE(R) spinal surgery system, has accused a rival of infringing both the patent and trade dress for a drill guide in one of the first patent design suits to be filed since the Federal Circuit handed down its standard-altering Egyptian Goddess ruling...

Comments on Trade Secret Sharing in High Velocity Labor Markets

Posted on October 20, 2008
Post requested by our good colleague: Michael Risch West Virginia University College of Law SSRN-id1269039.pdf Abstract: This essay is an edited and supplemented version of comments made during the 2008 AALS Annual Meeting Section on Law & Economics panel...

Trade secrets are assets

Posted on October 20, 2008
By: Bruce Freeman Q: I'm a small-business owner and have a great opportunity to work on a project with a large technology leader. They want a confidentiality agreement. But I hate contracts and am afraid that if I try to negotiate, I'll lose the deal...

SOFTWARE PROTECTION--INTEGRATING PATENT, COPYRIGHT AND TRADE SECRET LAW

Posted on October 19, 2008
by Gregory J. Maier In intellectual property terms, software is a true hybrid. Although software has its origin in writing, it also possesses functionality, a property that clearly distinguishes it from ordinary writings. To write software, is to formulate instructions for reconfiguring a collection of electronic logic gates and memory cells into a virtual structure capable of accomplishing a predetermined objective...

Employee engagement: trade secrets

Posted on October 19, 2008
By: Gordon Barker With the dramatic change in the global economic environment, organisations need more than ever before to focus on creating an engaging performance environment. With the dramatic change in the global economic environment, organisations need more than ever before to focus on creating an engaging performance environment for their employees...

Protecting IP: Should an invention hold patent or trade-secret status?

Posted on October 18, 2008
By: Ted Barthel, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C. Your company has created a new innovation. Now you would like to protect this intellectual property (IP) asset and use it to create value for your business. Four types of IP protection exist: copyright, patent, trademarks, and trade secrets...

Do Internet Companies Overuse Nondisclosure Agreements?

Posted on October 17, 2008
By Eric Goldman Nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) are often called the "Silicon Valley Handshake." In some circles, any conversation beyond pleasantries requires an NDA. However, NDAs have underappreciated and potentially strategic consequences. How did such an important agreement become so ubiquitous, and is ubiquity a good thing? NDAs' Benefits NDAs facilitate the disclosure of trade secrets...

Non-Compete Clause in Russia: Do the Laws Compete?

Posted on October 17, 2008
The Moscow Times by Pepeliaev, Goltsblat Partners and Yury Ivanov A non-compete clause or covenant not to compete is a term used in contract law meaning that one party (usually an employee) agrees not to pursue a similar profession or trade in competition with another party (usually the employer)...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.