Trade Secrets and Patents: A Comprehensive Approach to Protecting Intellectual Property

This CLE webinar will guide IP counsel in determining whether trade secret or patent protection is the optimal mode for inventions and technologies. The panel will outline best practices for counsel to consider in determining the optimal form of protection.

Patents and trade secrets provide two ways of protecting inventions and technology. The AIA changed the playing field and disclosure requirements. Those who commercially used an invention one year before the patent was filed now have a defense to infringement claims. Also, there is a federal cause of action for trade secret misappropriation under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA).

Counsel must understand the pros and cons of each mode of protection to guide their clients in choosing between protecting inventions as a trade secret, filing for a patent, or utilizing a strategy of both trade secret and patent protection for an invention.

Listen as our authoritative panel examines the choice between seeking patent or trade secret protection. The panel will discuss options in planning for protecting new inventions and technologies, considerations when determining which protection to pursue, and opportunities for coexistence between patents and trade secrets invention. The panel will offer best practices for determining which form of protection works best.