When a trade secret gets out or is stolen, the ramifications are
enormous; proof positive that trade secrets are valuable assets to be
protected.

If you haven’t seen the news in the last little while, you may be
astounded at the damage awards in two controversial trade secret cases.
One in California came in with a jury verdict of $36.3 million in
damages in a trade secret and breach of contract case. In Georgia,
there was another settlement of $37.3 million. There may be another
chapter written in both of these cases, as they may be appealed.

Having said that, the staggering amount of the awards serves to
point out something very important to the business community – trade
secrets are invaluable to businesses. The fact is that companies with
trade secrets they don’t want to lose to another company need to ensure
they are protected through non-disclosure agreements (NDA). There is
more than one way to protect secrets and it’s for this reason that an
expert Austin business lawyer is the best person to turn to when those
secrets need to be kept.

Non-disclosure agreements are not standard, run of the mill pieces
of paper that an employee signs. They are, in most instances,
tailor-made for a specific situation and in some instances for the
people who need to sign them. No business should consider operating
without a non-disclosure agreement if they have trade secrets that are
critical to their industry. For this reason they need to discuss with
the lawyer the categories of individuals who need to become acquainted
with an NDA as a prerequisite of their employment.

Within and outside of any corporation there are a wide variety of
individuals who may have access to a trade secret, and those include,
but are not limited to employees, consultants, customers, suppliers,
other existing or potential partners and angel investors or merger
and/or acquisition aspirants.

Struggling to keep a lid on that secret is of primary importance to
the company who will need to consider other methods of secrecy such as
encrypted password protection, storing critical material under lock and
key, limiting distribution of the crucial information and reminding
employees frequently that they need to keep what they know to
themselves.

Ironically, many a company that does have secrets to keep finds
themselves in the position of wanting to hire someone who used to work
for their competitors. This potentially awkward scenario is best
addressed by having the new employee sign specific employment
agreements to not divulge what they know. Obviously this would be a
sticky situation that may have the potential to blow up later should
the worker choose to talk about what they know despite having an
agreement in place.

Often when an employee is leaving a company and has had access to
trade secrets, they need to consider how to handle the potential
possibility of being sued for leaking those secrets. Whether or not
they are going to work for the competition or start their own business,
if they’re smart, they need to have a clear understanding in writing
about what they may take when they leave. The trick of course is living
up to that agreement.

Jack Zinda is an Austin business lawyer with Heselmeyer Zinda, PLLC. To learn more about Austin business attorney Jack Zinda visit Texasbusinessattorneys.net.