Have You Really Thought Through Your Due DIligence?
Due diligence identifies potential risks before closing a deal. The goal is to find problems that may lead to renegotiating, reducing the purchase price, or walking away from a deal. Yet many issues remain hidden despite rigorous due diligence. Earlier in my career I read about issues that were raised in a bankruptcy asset sale […]
When Does The Threat of Lawsuit Become Tortious Interference With Prospective Business Relationships?
Business owners regularly threaten litigation to protect their companies. In most cases, this threat does not create any potential liability to the party threatening litigation if a case is not ultimately filed. But this does not mean that the possibility exists. Likewise, business owners should be advised that they may potentially have a viable claim […]
AI and TRADE SECRETS
Almost one year has passed since news broke about Samsung employees sharing highly sensitive trade secrets with ChatGPT while testing software. As one of the world’s largest companies, Samsung has undertaken a wide–and expensive–series of measures to protect against intentional or unintentional disclosure of trade secrets. But trade secrets are usually taken without permission versus […]
Inevitable Disclosure and the Defend Trade Secrets Act
The inevitable disclosure doctrine in trade secrets cases is a simple concept. At its core, it presumes a former employee will inevitably disclose and use trade secrets of the former employer in the employee’s role with the new employer. As a result, it further presumes, it is inevitable that the former employee will disclose and use the […]
Avoid Unforced Errors When Executing Contracts
This firm works with a number of business brokers and investment bankers who are very good at their professions. They should be commended for their hard work and creativity to help buyers and sellers reach agreements. But they are not attorneys in the same way attorneys are not business brokers or investment bankers. Therefore, your […]
Drafting Cease and Desist Letters
Effective cease and desist letters do not require fancy lawyerly language. Like many other letters, they need to be direct and terse without sugarcoating the fact your company will take certain actions to protect its trade secrets and other confidential information. Your goal is to convince the new employer’s legal counsel, not the former employee, […]
NDA No-Nos
It is common knowledge that a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) does not provide absolute protection of a company’s intellectual property or other proprietary information. Unfortunately, many business owners are not advised with sufficient detail as to (1) why an NDA is insufficient and (2) how to keep an NDA enforceable. Receiving poor or no advice concerning […]
When Secrets May Not Be Trade Secrets
In many trade secret disputes, the parties are focused on fighting over whether the information was adequately protected
