Best Business Attorneys in Cupertino, CA

Protecting Your California Business From Trade Secret Misappropriation: Part 1 Every Silicon Valley business seeks a unique edge, new product, service, or innovation to outperform the competition. But that something special that sets a business apart is extremely vulnerable to misappropriation, theft, or exposure. What is a Trade Secret and how is it misappropriated? The California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) Section 3426(1)(b) defines trade secret misappropriation as acquisition of a trade secret by a person who knows or has reason to know that the trade secret was acquired by improper means or “the disclosure of a trade secret of another without express or implied consent by a person” who used improper means to acquire knowledge of the secret or knew their knowledge of the secret was derived improperly. Misappropriation may occur inadvertently, often from lack of adequate security protections and protocol. In addition, often, trade secrets are exposed by disgruntled former employees who may or may not have signed a non-disclosure agreement or a covenant not to compete. Misappropriation is further divided into three sub-categories of wrongful use, wrongful acquisition or wrongful disclosure. One example of trade secret misappropriation is the illegally copying and dissemination of technical instructions unique to a company.