Trade Secrets—A Holistic Approach

This article was originally published in Bloomberg Law. Reprinted with permission from Copyright 2018 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) www.bna.com. Any opinions in this article are not those of Winston & Strawn or its clients; the opinions in this article are the authors’ opinions only.

Many companies have a serious gap when it comes to protecting their assets: trade secrets. With data breaches grabbing headlines, and companies historically relying on the comparatively traditional protections of the patent laws, trade secrets are often neglected. Because protecting trade secrets requires effort and input across departments—from intellectual property counsel to human resources, from information technology officers to compliance counsel—it sometimes falls between the cracks, with no one functional group or leader owning the issue. But, with trade secret theft on the rise, and verdicts in some theft cases having neared a billion dollars, trade secrets must become a priority. 

View article