Denton Trade Secret Misappropriation Lawyer

Denton Trade Secret Misappropriation Attorney

It is necessary for some companies to rely on trade secrets to keep their business successful. Many different companies, including software companies and even food manufacturers, rely almost entirely on their secret formulas, recipes, or processes to maintain their business. If these trade secrets are violated or stolen, the fallout could wreak havoc on their business. If your trade secrets have been misused, reach out to a Denton trade secret misappropriation lawyer for help.

What Are Trade Secrets?

Not every company broadcasts the secrets of their success. After all, if everyone knew how certain products were made, anyone could make them. Then, they’d cease to be one company’s intellectual property, and they’d no longer be as profitable. That’s the value of trade secrets. A trade secret is a formula, a design, a process, or some unique information that is wholly unique to a single company. The company then uses this secret to develop a product confidentially.

While not every product developed by a company is considered to be a trade secret, the ones that are tend to be fiercely protected. In fact, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) defines the exact nature of a trade secret under federal law. For a business practice to be considered a trade secret, it must meet the following criteria:

• The secret in question must be commercially valuable. A company’s competitors are actively seeking out the secret to capitalize on the product themselves or hurt the company that is making the product.
• There is only a select group of people who know the secret. They are legally bound by a confidentiality agreement that prohibits them from revealing the secret publicly or selling it to the highest bidder.
• The person who owns the secret has taken substantial steps to protect the secret from being revealed to competitors or to the general public. This protection may take the form of confidentiality agreements or other non-disclosure agreements.

A fiercely protected trade secret is a business asset of the highest order. It may be the backbone of a company’s entire profit margin, such as Coca-Cola’s recipe or Google’s search algorithm. Without it, a company may lose everything, which is why they may seek to take significant steps to legally protect themselves if someone were to leak their trade secrets.

Misappropriating a Trade Secret

Thanks to federal law, misappropriating a trade secret is highly illegal and punishable under the Economic Espionage Act (EEA). Under this federal act, trade secrets are protected, and those who misappropriate them by stealing them, leaking them, or using them without the owner’s permission can face severe legal penalties depending on the details of the case. There tend to be two primary forms of trade secret misappropriation that are prosecuted at the federal level:

• Economic Espionage: Economic espionage occurs when someone intentionally steals or misappropriates a trade secret with the express knowledge that revealing these secrets will benefit a foreign power. If you are convicted of economic espionage, you could face penalties that include hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and up to 15 years in prison for an individual. If committed by a group, the fine increases by millions.
• Theft of Trade Secrets: Theft of trade secrets is much more common than economic espionage. Instead of seeking to sell a secret to a foreign nation, trade secrets are stolen or misappropriated with the intention of hurting the owner of the secret or their company. Under the EEA, a conviction of trade secret theft carries a hefty prison sentence for an individual. For groups, there may be an additional fine in the millions.

Why Hire a Trade Secret Misappropriation Lawyer?

If you are a business owner who relies on your trade secrets for your company’s revenue, the risk of losing that secret is too great to even consider. If you come to suspect that somebody may be seeking to illegally acquire your trade secrets or, worse, they already have them, you need to have reasonable protections in place that won’t cause your company to lose vast amounts of revenue. That’s where a trade secret misappropriation lawyer comes into play.

A good lawyer can alleviate your concerns and help you establish viable protections for your trade secrets, including adding NDAs and non-compete clauses into your employment contracts, safeguarding access to your secrets, and pursuing injunctions to prevent further use of these secrets by people who may have already tried to misappropriate them to damage you. There are many different reasons why you should hire a trade secret misappropriation lawyer, such as:

• Focused Knowledge: There are so many aspects of the law that are specific, intricate, and difficult to understand without years of education and study. Trade secret law is no different. It’s important to hire someone who understands the intricacies of your case and has experience handling cases like yours in the past. That way, they can anticipate setbacks and apply past winning strategies to your case.
• Thorough Investigations: You may not know the full scope of your case initially. When you hire a lawyer to help you protect your trade secrets, they can conduct a thorough investigation into any potential misappropriation and bring their findings back to you. They may uncover substantial evidence that you can use to build an even stronger case against the alleged misappropriator.

Reach Out to a Trade Secret Misappropriation Lawyer Today

Every business owner wants to preserve the integrity of their company. Many times, that may mean doing whatever you can to make sure no one tries to steal or misuse your trade secrets. Whether you are protecting a unique recipe or safeguarding a specific design process, your trade secret may be the lifeblood of your entire company. Losing it would destroy everything you’ve built. By hiring a good lawyer, you may be ensuring your company’s continued survival.

At Alagood Cartwright Burke PC, we can help you put together a strong case that proves misappropriation and preserves your trade secrets. Contact us to speak to someone on our team about your case and schedule a consultation.