3 Steps to Protecting Your Trade Secrets

Irvine trade secrets attorneys provide invaluable assistance to companies that are concerned about how they can protect their organization’s proprietary information. Brown & Charbonneau, LLP understands the steps that are required to ensure your company’s trade secrets remain confidential so competitors and the public do not find out about the private information that is essential to your business success.  We can use our legal knowledge of trade secrets laws to help protect your company. 

Making informed choices about protecting trade secrets is vital, and our legal team guides you in both taking steps to prevent disclosures and in responding to threats of your information leaking. Give us a call to find out how our legal team can help protect your company’s intellectual property.

Steps to Protecting Your Trade Secrets

The Small Business Administration provides some advice on steps that companies should take in order to make certain that their trade secrets are protected. Companies should:

• Identify what constitutes a trade secret and take steps to keep the information confidential: In order for information to be considered a trade secret, it actually has to be kept secret. This means the information cannot be public knowledge and efforts must be made within the company to prevent disclosures. If you cannot demonstrate that you have actually treated information as proprietary and confidential, that information will not be given the legal protections typically provided to trade secrets.
• Take steps to ensure that staff keeps trade secrets: You want to make certain employees understand the importance of keeping trade secrets confidential. You can make use of non-disclosure agreements when staff members have access to confidential information. Employees who sign these agreements could face legal action if they disclose the secret information that they learned in the course of doing their jobs. You also may wish to consider the use of non-compete agreements in order to stop employees from taking your secrets to the competition. It is important to work with Irvine trade secrets attorneys to draft agreements that will be enforceable, as the courts will not enforce non-competes or other restrictive covenants that are too broad and that are considered unlawful restraints on trade.
• Take advantage of legal protections: There are legal rules prohibiting the theft of trade secrets and providing protection to proprietary information. Courts will also enforce valid non-disclosure agreements. Irvine business attorneys can explain to you how the laws work to protect your company’s information. If problems arise and the confidentiality of your company’s secret information is threatened, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP can also help you to move forward with using the civil court system to prevent the release of information or to take action to seek remedies if your company’s private information does end up being shared in violation of state and federal law.

Irvine trade secrets attorneys can assist with all of these different steps and can also provide additional advice on legal tools you should use and protocols you should follow so your valuable secrets are not at risk.

How Irvine Trade Secrets Attorneys Help

Irvine trade secrets attorneys help you to determine what information should be considered a trade secret and what your company needs to do to make certain that the secrets your business secrets are actually protected under the law. Brown & Charbonneau, LLP also provides assistance in drafting non-disclosure agreements and using other legal tools to maximize the protections that help keep your secrets secure.

If a problem does arise and disclosure is threatened or secrets are actually disclosed, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP can also assist you in taking legal action. We can help you to pursue remedies in civil court, including an injunction to stop the release of proprietary information and a claim for damages to obtain compensation resulting from losses due to disclosure of your secrets.

When your proprietary information is threatened, you cannot afford to just allow your company’s secrets to fall into the wrong hands. You should reach out to Irvine trade secrets lawyers as soon as possible for advice and advocacy.

Getting Help from Irvine Trade Secrets Attorneys

Brown & Charbonneau, LLP can advise your business on all of the different legal steps you must take to protect your confidential and proprietary company information. In today’s economy, information has incredible value and it is vital to protect the secrets of your company’s success. Let our Irvine trade secrets lawyers provide the advice you need to ensure your most important information does not fall into the wrong hands. Give us a call at (866)237-8129 or contact us online to get personalized advice on how our legal team can assist you.