trade secret
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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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The Danger of Overreaching
drawing and specimen for plaintiff’s trade dress registration Plaintiff Lauren Brenner started Pure Power Boot Camp, a military-style exercise facility. She hired the defendants and they decided to start a competing business called Warrior Fitness Boot Camp. The defendants behaved despicably; while still her employees they had one’s client/girlfriend promote Warrior Fitness to Pure Power… Continue reading
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Giving An Idea to Your Employer
If an employee has a pre-existing idea that he or she brings to the employer, who owns it? At first blush it seems pretty easy, that the employee would own it. What, though, if the employer puts time, effort and money into developing the idea, then what? This is the situation in Woodfords Family Services,… Continue reading
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MGA Entertainment Wins Bratz! (For Now)
Image from Counterfeit Chic “Staggering blow.”“Major reversal.”“Plastic cat fight of epic proportions.” “Astonishing loss.” It just doesn’t get more dramatic than this. In the everlasting dispute over ownership of the Bratz doll franchise, Mattel’s original $100 million verdict in the first trial is gone. Now Mattel gets a paltry $10,000 on an intentional interference claim… 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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A Patently Untenable Trademark Claim
Plaintiff Robert Welsh d/b/a Big Ten Development pitched the idea of a “Big Ten Network” to the Big Ten Conference. Big Ten Conference wasn’t interested at the time, but several years later introduced the “Big Ten Network” and filed trademark applications to register the mark in various classes. Welsh brought suit under § 38 of… 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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