Trade secrets remain one of the most useful forms of IP for technology companies because they can protect valuable information without public disclosure and without the expiration of a patent term. The protection, however, exists only while the information qualifies as a trade secret and the owner takes reasonable measures to keep it secret.
Modern trade-secret programs must account for remote work, cloud systems, collaboration platforms, generative AI and employee mobility. Sensitive source code, datasets, prompts, model weights, algorithms, customer information and business plans should be classified and protected through least-privilege access, authentication, encryption, logging and contractual controls.
Confidentiality agreements remain important, but the protection program should also cover contractors, vendors, departing personnel and third-party technology. Employees should understand what is confidential and what they may or may not enter into external AI systems. A company should also have procedures for responding to suspected misappropriation and preserving evidence.
Courts evaluate the facts surrounding secrecy and protective measures. The statute also limits employment injunctions to circumstances supported by evidence of threatened misappropriation and consistent with applicable state law.
Trade-secret protection is therefore a business process, not a single contract. The stronger the operational controls, the stronger the company’s position when protection is challenged. We can help design a practical, enforceable trade-secret protection program.