Trade secrets – the business perspective (In-House)

Trade barriers are going up across the globe. And cybercrime is on the increase. The link between the two? The value of trade secrets.

As countries become increasingly protectionist as regards international trade, so their IP law has been changing, with the result that companies that previously would have sought protection through patents are opting to go down the trade secret route instead. But is this a high-risk strategy? Technology is changing and this is having an impact on forms of commercial co-operation. Collaborative or open forms of innovation by their very nature involve the sharing of intellectual property (IP), and in many instances this IP is in the form of valuable confidential business information (ie, trade secrets). Little surprise, then, that trade secrets disputes have increased accordingly.

At the same time, the changes in technology make trade secrets more vulnerable to attack, misappropriation, theft.

So just how effective are the legal protections for trade secrets? How can organisations safeguard the value in their IP (increasingly, the single biggest line in their balance sheets)? This programme is designed to help you address these issues.

Note: this is an indicative agenda, to be used as a starting point for a conversation between client and consultant, depending on the organisation’s specific situation and requirements.