Trade Secrets

Trade secret protection can be the least expensive and the most effective way to protect intellectual property (IP). Through counseling, litigation, and transactional work, Morgan Lewis lawyers help clients protect their inventions, processes, methodology, information, formulae, client lists, ideas, and other trade secrets.

Our lawyers provide clients such services as:

• Conduct trade secret audits and design protection programs to avoid trade secret misappropriation before it occurs.
• Draft specialized confidentiality agreements to protect employers, independent contractors, joint venturers, suppliers, purchasers, business partners, contractors, and potential buyers and sellers of proprietary technology.
• Prepare e-mail and Internet use policies, covenants not to compete, no-solicitation agreements, and no-raid agreements.
• Provide intellectual property and employment law advice when a former employee leaves with a company’s trade secrets and/or copyrighted materials.
• Represent parties whose trade secrets have been misappropriated or who are accused of misappropriating trade secrets of others.

To maximize IP protection, we contemporaneously counsel on — and litigate — different forms of protection for various aspects of the same product or service, including utility and design patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, and trade dress, as appropriate.