Trade Secrets Lawyers in the USA

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently published final rules governing derivation proceedings. The new patent proceedings are designed to ensure that a person will not be able to obtain a patent for an invention that he or she did not actually invent once the new first-inventor-to-file system launches.

A former Motorola employee has been sentenced to four years in prison for trade secret theft. Hanjuan Jin’s sentence is one of the harshest in the history of criminal trade secret theft prosecutions.

With the explosion of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, it is likely that many of your employees use social media for both personal and business interactions. While these tools can be a great way to spread the word about your company’s products or services, they can also compromise proprietary information, including trade secrets.

The copyright infringement litigation pitting startup Aereo against several major broadcasters is now underway. Because the decision could shake up how consumers get their television, the media and technology industries are closely watching the case.

To help crack down on for-profit colleges and universities using fraudulent tactics to enroll military veterans, President Barak Obama is turning to trademark law. The White House recently announced that the President will sign an executive order that, among other things, orders the Department of Veterans Affairs to register “GI Bill” as a trademark.

Trade secret theft is generally addressed through civil lawsuits. However, in some cases, the misappropriation of trade secrets can rise to the level of a federal crime. The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 criminalizes trade secret theft committed for personal benefit within the country or for the benefit of a foreign government.

During its 2011-2012, the United States Supreme Court recently issued a key intellectual property decision. In Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., the Supreme Court ruled that a medical process of making correlations between blood test results and patient health could not be patented because it incorporated laws of nature.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation rarely likes to call attention to its ongoing spy tactics. However, the agency recently launched a national campaign designed to draw attention to a growing problem in the United States—economic espionage.

For years you’ve admired your top competitor’s ability to design and market new products that have, much to your frustration, consistently outsold yours. Now one of the key members of your competitor’s marketing team is sitting in your office asking YOU for a job. As he describes to you how he thinks he can position your products for triple-digit sales growth, you can’t help but think to yourself, “is this too good to be true?”

An employee non-disclosure/non-competition agreement (NDA/non-compete) is a vital part of any company’s intellectual property protection program. Too often though, companies use the same form agreement for years even though its legal value may have eroded due to changes in the law or changes in the business. The following are some things to consider in determining whether it may be time to update your company’s NDA/non-compete.