Sedona Conference Working Group (WG12)

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The Sedona Conference, Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets, has released for public comment its guidance on the governance and management of trade secrets. This valuable Commentary outlines the inherent challenges in developing a trade secret protection program that aligns with a business’s goals and measurable objectives.

The Commentary recommends businesses focus on the following factors to evaluate trade secret protection programs:

  • The size, maturity, industry, and location of the business;
  • The nature and value of a business’s trade secrets;
  • How the business can leverage its trade secrets to commercialize new services and extract additional value, maintain its competitive advantage, and incentivize innovation;
  • The different measures available to protect the business’s trade secrets and their varying effectiveness; and
  • The extent and cost of measures taken and the rationale for measures not taken.

In the end, the Commentary advocates an “integrated enterprise” approach to trade secret governance in order to accommodate multiple and potentially conflicting corporate interests. This approach requires several steps:
Continue Reading The Sedona Conference Solicits Public Comment on its Commentary on the Governance and Management of Trade Secrets

The Sedona Conference, Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets, has issued guidance on protecting trade secrets throughout the employment life cycle. This significant Commentary analyzes the tension between an employer’s interest in protecting its trade secrets and an employee’s interest in engaging in future employment.
Continue Reading The Sedona Conference Issues Commentary on Protecting Trade Secrets Throughout the Employment Life Cycle

The Sedona Conference, Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets, has issued guidance on protecting trade secrets in litigation about them. This important Commentary recommends courts:

  • Balance the risk of disclosure and harm to the producing party with the need for the other party and to have the information to prepare its case when determining a

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A fundamental question in every trade secret misappropriation case is: what are the alleged trade secrets that are the subject of the claim?  To assist parties and courts in answering this question, the Sedona Conference recently published Commentary on the Proper Identification of Asserted Trade Secrets in Misappropriation Cases (“Commentary”) which is available for download here.

The Commentary provides four guiding principles for identifying different types of asserted trade secrets:

  1. the identification of an asserted trade secrets during a lawsuit is not an adjudication of the merits or a substitute for discovery;
  2. the party claiming trade secret misappropriation should identify in writing the asserted trade secret at an early stage of the case;
  3. the party claiming the existence of a trade secret must identify the asserted trade secret at a level of particularity that is reasonable under the circumstances; and
  4. the identification of an asserted trade secret may be amended as the case proceeds.

Continue Reading Sedona Conference Publishes Commentary on Proper Trade Secret Identification