A trusted high-level employee downloads thousands of documents and gives them to the competition. The company wants to take decisive and swift legal action against the employee for having taken its most valuable competitive information and needs to prevent its further use and dissemination. The Uniform Trade Secrets Act, enacted in every state except New York and Massachusetts (which have similar common law causes of action), provides for such immediate injunctive relief. To qualify, however, an essential element of every trade secret claim is that the information be the “subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.” In an era in which employees and the information to which they have access are more mobile than ever, it is critical that companies evaluate and ensure that they are using best practices as well as more cutting-edge methods to protect their most valuable information.
The Basics
• Require restrictive covenants.
