From the course: Understanding Intellectual Property
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Trade secret infringement
From the course: Understanding Intellectual Property
Trade secret infringement
- [Instructor] Trade secret infringement. So what does a trade secret get you? You claim you have a trade secret, and what does it get you? It gets you the right to sue somebody for breach of the contract that they signed where confidentiality was promised. Misappropriation of trade secrets is what we call it. Well, what do you need in order to sue somebody for misappropriation of trade secrets? For starters, you have to show that it was a trade secret and that it had value, and that you took reasonable measures to protect its secrecy. Establishing trade secrets is the first step. The second part is misappropriation. That requires disclosure by someone who had a duty not to disclose the information. Let's say that somebody discloses what you believe is trade secret information, but they have no duty not to disclose it. You're not going to be able to stop them in most cases, and if you are, you're probably not going to get any damages from them because they have no duty not to disclose…