Protecting Trade Secrets

Protecting trade secrets is more important than ever today, as companies look for ways to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition. Prudent companies are recognizing the need not only to protect their own confidential business information as trade secrets, but also to guard against the misappropriation of others' trade secrets.

In the age of smartphones, LinkedIn, and cloud computing, private, confidential information can become public — and even go viral —all too easily. A simple act of carelessness in an e-mail or on a social network can expose confidential information, leading to instant, irreversible losses. It's critical that companies train their employees to abide by trade secret law, to learn to recognize trade secrets and other confidential information, and to mitigate the risk of release of that information.

The topics covered in the course include:

• What is a "trade secret"?
• Overview of trade-secret law
• How to protect trade secrets
• New hires
• Consultants and temporary workers
• Departing employees
• Customers and suppliers
• Joint ventures and acquisitions
• Unsolicited ideas
• Social networks and cloud computing