Do you have a trade secret that the success of your business depends upon? Protecting your trade secrets is an important step in ensuring your business can thrive. You may have a top-secret recipe to rival Kentucky Fried Chicken or an original way to create a new art form. If you were to patent your secret method, it would be made publicly available after a certain number of years. A trade secret, on the other hand, can remain protected forever. There are certain legal documents a qualified intellectual property (IP) attorney can help you with, to ensure all bases are covered to keep your secret to success a secret for years to come.

A Qualified IP Attorney Has the Advice You Need

If you value your trade secret as having the potential to propel your company to new heights of success, it is important to get started on the right foot. Protecting your secret means that you can’t promote your idea on Kickstarter or any other public forums, at least not until you’ve consulted an attorney. Although there may be ways to go around actually revealing your secret while still gaining public support, you must begin with an understanding of how you can best legally protect the secret.

When you protect your trade secret properly, no one should be able to exploit it for their own personal gain at your expense. Protection of a trade secret should always be considered a priority, and a IP attorney is the best person to steer you in the right direction.

Legal Documents are Key for Protecting Your Trade Secrets

The goal of guarding a trade secret is to ensure that if any legal battles ever ensue, you can be confident at the outset that the facts are on your side. Your diligence in the task of ensuring confidentiality should be something that can’t be denied when evidence is examined. An important way to prove your dedication to confidentiality is with appropriate legal documents, which may include one or more of the following:

• Nondisclosure covenants or agreements are also known as confidentiality clauses, and they prevent employees from using or sharing confidential information during their employment as well as forever after.
• Non-compete covenants are controversial as restrictive covenants go, but they have proven to be particularly useful for protecting trade secrets from being stolen. It is essential to have a skilled, experienced attorney able to draft a non-compete agreement that provides protection that should stick in a court of law.
• A “garden leave” clause allows an employee to still be paid for 30 to 60 days after voluntarily terminating employment. This often proves to be a favorable legal avenue for trade secret enforcement because the employee is paid and yet restricted from entering into competitive employment during the notice period.

Zachary Hiller Is Here To Help

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. Each case is as unique as the secret it protects. Zachary Hiller can help ensure the protection of your trade secret as well as other types of intellectual property–trademarks, patents, and copyrights. A Patent Attorney who also has expertise with confidentiality agreements can assist you with all of your intellectual property needs. Call us for a free consultation at 832-830-8016, fill out our contact form, or send an email to zack@zhillerlaw.com today.