trade secret
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Only Owners (Or Licensees) Can Bring a Claim Under the Federal Trade Secrets Act
In 2016 the United States enacted trade secret law at the federal level. Before that, trade secret law was available only at the state level, meaning a patchwork of different standards and no federal jurisdiction for claims. The Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), changed that. Like trademark law, the federal trade secret law does not… Continue reading
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Standing Without Ownership — If It’s a Trade Secret
Trade secret is a bit of the odd man out in intellectual property law. Trade secret arises under state law, not federal, and has no formalities: no recording of an interest or filing of an application is required. Something is a trade secret just because it’s a secret. There aren’t a lot of a cases… Continue reading
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Why You Need an Ownership Clause in Your Employee Agreements
An old case popped out on Westlaw for some reason, but it is an interesting one, about ownership of trade secrets created by an employee. So I thought it was worth writing about. Plaintiff Premier Displays & Exhibits and defendant EWI Worldwide are both in the business of design and fabrication of displays and exhibits… Continue reading
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Can a Trade Secret Licensee State a Claim?
It can in Wisconsin. In Metso Minerals Industries, Inc. v. FLSmidth-Excel LLC, there was no question that the plaintiff, Metso, was only a licensee of the secret, not the owner. Two of the defendants were former employees of Metso and one of its licensees, but now are employees of the corporate defendant Excel. Metso accused… Continue reading
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I Own It When I See It
How many people can own knowledge? Banks give merchants a line of credit for credit card transactions. The banks use independent service organizations (ISOs) to sign up merchants for the bank’s services and to provide the equipment needed to process the transactions. Merchants submit their sales to a payment processor, which transmits the information to… Continue reading
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Keeping a Trade Secret Secret May Not Be Enough
The trade secret form of intellectual property is unique because its very existence requires that it have economic value. Patents and copyrights don’t need to (and often don’t) generate a dime. Trademarks must be used in commerce to exist, but they don’t have to be used in an income-producing way. But the definition of a… Continue reading
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How to Make Money on Dow Futures
Most trade secret cases, in evaluating whether there is a trade secret or not, are looking at the degree to which secrecy was maintained, or analyzing whether the particular subject matter is of a type that may be protected through trade secret. Fishkin v. Susquehanna Partners G.P. (a declaratory judgment action) is a more unusual case where… Continue reading
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