And if the later discoverer obtains a patent, you may find yourself barred from using the invention yourself. Courts may refuse to protect your trade secrets if you have not made reasonable efforts to keep the information from being disclosed. See below for a list of appropriate safeguards. In the past a company's advantage might lie in its access to cheap labor or proximity to a railroad or quarry. Protection of that critical asset begins with trade secret law.
Employees move from job to job more freely than ever.
And this is happening just as modern management theory suggests that we trust more people, at lower levels of the organization, with access to the company's most valuable assets. Even customers and vendors are brought closely within the information circle by processes such as collaborative engineering. Your company's intellectual capital is threatened not just by careless or unscrupulous employees and competitors, but by governments around the world. And there is evidence that some foreign governments commit industrial espionage in support of their national industries. Knowing how to maintain the integrity of your information assets in this environment is critical.