Remedies for California Businesses When Trade Secrets are Misappropriated
When a business works hard to develop systems, procedures, recipes, formulas, and practices—protectable as trade secrets—to advance the success, productivity, and profitability of their business, they have great interest in protecting that information from those who may steal or misappropriate the business’s trade secrets. Trade secrets are a form of intellectual property, along with patents, copyrights, and trademarks; however, there is no formal registration process to protect trade secrets. Instead, trade secrets are protected by a contractual agreement between the owner of the proprietary information and any other individual who may have access to this information and signs a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement. If you are a California business owner and believe that proprietary trade secrets belonging to your business