Lawsuits
involving claims for misappropriation of trade secrets are continuing to trend upward, even in an era when litigation as a
whole is believed to have decreased. At a time when companies’ most sensitive
confidential and proprietary business information is becoming ever more
digitalized – and thus easily transportable – all employers should maintain
vigilance in protecting their crucial business information. Not surprisingly, a
significant amount of trade secret litigation involves situations where former
employees accessed company information before their departures, copied it and later
used that information to compete against the former employer.
Another
significant development regarding trade secrets misappropriation claims is an apparent
increased focus on such unlawful acts by prosecutors, resulting in more
frequent criminal proceedings against persons
who have misappropriated a company’s trade secrets.
The
takeaway for employers is that it continues to be crucial for companies to
effectively lock-down and protect their confidential and proprietary business
information. We have previously identified helpful steps to be taken on this front. A quick
listing of some protective steps to consider includes:
- Update employee handbooks to include detailed confidentiality policies tailored to address your company’s confidential information.
- Have employees sign stand-alone confidentiality agreements.
- Consider updating old stand-alone confidentiality agreements to include language that is legally required to take advantage of certain rights and remedies in the federal trade secrets law.
- Limit access to your company’s computer system and to the company’s most sensitive business information.
- Prohibit or significantly restrict use by employees of cloud-based file storage programs or websites, such as Dropbox or Google Docs.
- Use exit interviews with all departing employees to remind them of confidentiality obligations and to also retrieve all confidential information and company devices.
- Act promptly upon learning that a former employee may have taken confidential or trade secret information.
No comments:
Post a Comment