Ask the Lawyer - The Herald Catches Up with Kevin Schlosser

Publication Source: LI Herald.com

Q: Our business has devoted a great deal of time, money and resources in developing unique and competitive internal operations and methods and in building special customer relationships and goodwill. How do we protect ourselves and what remedies do we have if our rights are violated?

A: Congratulations! Fortunately, there are many effective ways to protect your valuable work product. The key, of course, is knowing how to maximize the available legal protections and to avoid squandering the remedies at your disposal. You wouldn't believe how many times a new client comes in with a dicey problem that could have been completely avoided or substantially minimized had timely legal advice been implemented sooner. Taking the right steps now can make the difference between a secure business environment and disaster. In short, knowledge is power.

Trade Secrets

You have often heard of the term 'trade secrets.' How does that relate to protecting your company's valuable information? The law provides special powerful protection to this type of information. Despite popular belief, trade secret protection is not limited to just unique product formulas. Generally, trade secret protection can be afforded to a host of business methods, devices, techniques, data and compilations that you have developed, are not known outside your company and provide you with a competitive advantage in your industry. The key, however, is taking prudent steps in your company to restrict access to this unique information and to maintain its confidentiality. If you don't treat the information as confidential or restrict it to only those who need to know it to do their jobs, the courts are not likely to afford you special protection or to recognize special remedies against those who use it without your consent.

So, the way to put your company in the best position of protecting its valuable information is to implement some basic controls and procedures. This will not only bolster your legal rights but will also help to prevent others from misappropriating your proprietary information. Here are some basic steps:

Read the full interview here.

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Kevin Schlosser is a Shareholder at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C., where he is Chair of the Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Department which has a full roster of available private judges from virtually all disciplines of law. Mr. Schlosser also authors the popular blog, “New York Fraud Claims,” which analyzes the latest developments concerning civil fraud claims under New York law.