01.
Confidentiality programs
Information classification, access controls, written policies, training, and exit procedures. The reasonable-measures showing required for any trade-secret claim.
Practice Area
Trade Secret Protection & Litigation
The protection only exists if you actually take reasonable steps to keep the secret.
The Practice
An overview of trade secret.
Trade-secret protection is unique among intellectual property: it lasts forever, costs nothing to file for, and exists only as long as the holder actively protects the information. The most common failure mode is informality · no written NDA, no exit interview, no access controls · that lets a former employee or contractor walk off with the asset. The firm builds the protection program before it is needed and litigates the misappropriation when it is.
Scope of Work
The work the firm performs.
02.
NDAs and employment agreements
Drafted to be enforceable in Texas. Includes assignment-of-inventions language for employees and contractors.
03.
Employee separation protocols
Exit interviews, return-of-property certifications, and notice to new employers when warranted.
04.
Misappropriation litigation
Federal claims under the Defend Trade Secrets Act and state claims under the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Preliminary injunctions and emergency seizure where warranted.
Primary Authorities
The statutes that govern.
A selection of the federal and Texas authorities that govern this practice. The firm's work is grounded in primary law, not paraphrase.
- 18 U.S.C. § 1836Defend Trade Secrets Act
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 134ATexas Uniform Trade Secrets Act
- Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 15.50Non-competition enforceability
- Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 15.51Reformation of overbroad non-competes
Common Questions
Asked on first calls.
01.What qualifies as a trade secret?
Information that derives independent economic value from not being generally known and is subject to reasonable measures to keep it secret. Customer lists, processes, formulas, source code, pricing strategies, and unfiled inventions all qualify if treated as secret.
02.Trade secret vs. patent?
A patent gives a twenty-year monopoly in exchange for public disclosure. A trade secret gives forever protection in exchange for keeping the information secret. Some inventions are best suited to patent; others (Coca-Cola's formula, famously) to trade secret.
03.Are non-competes enforceable in Texas?
Yes, with limits. § 15.50 requires the agreement to be ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement and reasonable in time, geography, and scope. Overbroad agreements are reformed under § 15.51 rather than voided.
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