Trade Secrets
The primary asset of any business is the proprietary information that makes its products or services unique. This is as true for companies involved in apparel manufacturing as it is for software developers. Trade secrets retain their value through a seemingly simple – and yet often difficult endeavor – the maintenance of secrecy. With the increased focus on partnerships and strategic alliances, the rapid turnover in employees, and the speed with which information can spread through the Internet, never have businesses been more vulnerable to the loss or theft of their trade secrets.
The implementation of a trade secret protection plan is advised to not only categorize your existing confidential and proprietary assets, but to provide an established policy to prevent undesired disclosure of potentially important information. Formulating an internal employee invention assignment and trade secret protection plan, coupled with the employment of appropriate non-disclosure agreements with out-side entities, is essential.