Trade Secrets
Fun Rogue Fact:
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule to promote competition by banning noncompetes nationwide, protecting the fundamental freedom of workers to change jobs, increasing innovation, and fostering new business formation.
“Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism, including from the more than 8,500 new startups that would be created a year once noncompetes are banned,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The FTC’s final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market.”
What are trade secrets?
The poor forgotten prong of IP, trade secrets are IP rights to confidential information. Improper acquisition, use, or disclosure of the secrets can result in liability.
Many things can fall under trade secret protection that don’t fall into any other IP categories, like customer lists, algorithms, HR information, recipes for certain beverages, fried chicken, etc.
To protect themselves, business owners naturally want to slap a “Confidential” mark on everything and call it good. But this isn’t enough - if everything is confidential, then nothing is confidential, right?
But, if the secret is held close enough, it can be kept confidential indefinitely. Think Coke or WD-40.
There is no such thing as “registering” a trade secret, but it’s important to speak with your attorney to determine what you should do with various pieces of information related to your business. In some cases, you may want to file a patent application, but in others, it might be better to put the information in a drawer.
And lock it.
And don’t use P@ssword! as your password.
And build an extra roof to prevent your competitor from obtaining drone footage of your process (if you have secrets that might be of interest to certain dictators).