Confidential business information faces a competitive landscape where employee mobility, vendor relationships, and inadvertent disclosure determine whether a company’s most valuable know-how stays protected.
As companies build value in confidential processes, source code, and proprietary data, founders and executives often find themselves navigating complex trade secret issues: employee mobility, vendor relationships, disclosure risk, and the choice between patenting an innovation and protecting it as a trade secret.
NK Patent Law represents technology-driven companies in patent prosecution and intellectual property strategy, including trade secret protection and counseling. Trade secret law is both federal — under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA, 18 U.S.C. § 1836) — and state, where most states follow a version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). We represent clients regardless of location, coordinating trade secret strategy with their patent and trademark portfolios.
Our team has helped clients secure 2,100+ issued patents and 1,000+ registered trademarks across software, electronics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, and the life sciences. Many of those clients also rely on trade secrets to protect know-how that does not belong in a published patent — and the two strategies work best planned together.
Call (919) 348-2194 or contact NK Patent Law to discuss your trade secret strategy.
Representative Experience
- Assisted an early-stage startup with developing a trade secret policy for a joint-venture in which a shared laboratory was being used to provide limited electronic and physical access to relevant tests and results on an as-needed basis only.
Additional Practice Areas
Put us to work and start harnessing the power of your intellectual property.
Contact us today to learn more.
What qualifies as a trade secret
A trade secret is information that derives independent economic value from not being generally known and is the subject of reasonable efforts to keep it secret. Under both the DTSA and the UTSA, that means two things: the information must have competitive value, and the company must take reasonable measures to protect it.
Trade secret protection can cover:
- Manufacturing processes, formulations, and production know-how
- Source code, algorithms, and software architecture not disclosed in a patent
- Customer lists, pricing models, and supplier relationships
- Research data, test results, and negative know-how (approaches that did not work)
- Business methods, internal tools, and proprietary databases
- Designs, specifications, and engineering documentation kept in confidence
Unlike patents, trade secrets never expire — protection lasts as long as the information stays secret and valuable. But it disappears the moment the information becomes public or the company stops taking reasonable steps to guard it.
The strategic choice: patent or trade secret
Whether to patent an innovation or protect it as a trade secret is one of the most consequential IP decisions a company makes. The two are often mutually exclusive: a patent requires full public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. § 112, while a trade secret depends on that information staying confidential.
Our attorneys and patent agents help clients weigh:
- Whether the innovation can be reverse-engineered from a marketed product, which favors patenting
- How long the competitive advantage should last, since long-lived know-how can favor trade secret protection
- Whether the subject matter is patent-eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101
- The cost and timeline of patent prosecution versus an internal protection program
- How the innovation fits the broader portfolio and commercial strategy
For many companies the answer is not all-or-nothing — a single product may combine patented features with trade-secret manufacturing processes.
Building a trade secret protection program
Trade secret rights are only as strong as the measures a company takes to protect them. If a dispute arises, the threshold question is almost always whether the company took reasonable steps to maintain secrecy.
We help clients build and document protection programs, including:
- Nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for employees, contractors, vendors, and partners
- Employee onboarding and exit procedures that address confidential information
- Confidentiality and invention-assignment provisions in employment agreements
- Access controls, information-classification policies, and need-to-know practices
- Trade secret audits to identify and inventory protectable information
- Protocols for sharing confidential information during diligence, financing, or partnership discussions
Documenting these measures matters as much as implementing them. A clear record of the steps taken often separates a protectable trade secret from information a court will decline to protect.
Trade secrets in transactions, due diligence, and licensing
Confidential information is often among the most valuable assets in an acquisition, license, or financing — and the easiest to compromise if handled carelessly. We assist clients with:
- Identifying and documenting trade secret assets ahead of a transaction
- Structuring confidentiality protections for diligence and data-room access
- Evaluating trade secret representations and warranties in deal documents
- Coordinating trade secret and patent strategy across in-licensed and out-licensed portfolios
- Assessing the risk that key know-how could leave with departing employees
When misappropriation is a concern
When a company suspects its confidential information has been taken or misused — by a departing employee, a competitor, or a former partner — early counseling shapes the options available. We help clients evaluate the situation, preserve evidence, and understand the remedies that federal and state trade secret law provide, and we work alongside litigation counsel when enforcement becomes necessary.
Technical backgrounds
Our attorneys and patent agents bring backgrounds in software, electrical and mechanical engineering, chemistry, and the life sciences — technical fluency that helps us see what makes a given process, dataset, or design worth protecting as a trade secret.
Because trade secret strategy sits alongside patent decisions, see our Intellectual Property Lawyer page and our Patent Due Diligence resource.
Why companies choose NK Patent Law
The right counsel directly affects the strength and value of your IP position. Clients choose NK Patent Law because:
- We focus on patent prosecution and IP strategy as our core practice
- We provide business-partner-level attention from experienced attorneys
- We approach trade secret protection in the context of commercial and competitive realities
- We coordinate trade secret strategy with patent and trademark portfolios
- We offer sophisticated IP counsel without large-firm pricing structure
NK Patent Law has been recognized by Legal 500 U.S. Elite, Best Lawyers in America for Patent Law, Business North Carolina Legal Elite, and the Chambers USA Regional Spotlight Guide.
Speak with trade secret counsel
Whether you are weighing patent versus trade secret protection, building a confidentiality program, or safeguarding know-how in a transaction, early counsel makes a measurable difference.
Call NK Patent Law at (919) 348-2194 or contact us online to discuss your trade secret strategy.
Authoritative reference: USPTO Trade Secret Policy