Whether a business is just beginning or flourishing and growing, trade secrets are crucial to consider and protect. They are often what make a business unique and can effectively set a business up for sustainable and long-term success. While trade secret theft may seem uncommon, several current cases suggest otherwise. “Tappy”—the automated robot used to test iPhones at T-Mobile—is at the center of trade secret theft charges against Huawei Device Co. and Huawei Device USA Inc. Huawei was originally contracted in 2010 by T-Mobile to supply phone handsets, but used the relationship to gain access to and photograph the testing [...]

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Trade Secrets on Friday, April 17, 2015. Trade secrets are information of any kind, including a formula, pattern, method, technique, or process, with two specific qualities. First, the information must have "independent economic value from not being generally known to the public." Second, the trade secret's owner must take "reasonable steps to maintain the secrecy of the information." A judge or jury would likely analyze this information, examining such factors as sensitivity, who needs access to the information, and whether employees of the company with the trade secrets were actually following internal procedures for protecting [...]

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Trade Secrets on Thursday, March 19, 2015. If you have developed a product, add another duty to your list of obligations: examining other similar products, patent filings, etc. to determine whether a competitor is misappropriating trade secret information. If you do not monitor the filings or if you do and fail to prosecute trade secret misappropriation claims, you may lose the right to sue for trade secret misappropriation. A trade secret is secret information that gives the owner a competitive business advantage simply because the competitors do not know this information. A trade secret can [...]