Practice Areas & Industries: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P.

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Your innovations are diverse. So are your options for protection.
In today’s global economy, intense competition, employee mobility, and the proliferation of spin-off and start-up businesses make the protection of trade secrets critical.  Leading corporations and innovative organizations readily recognize the need for strong patent protection, but often overlook the formulas, devices, techniques, patterns, processes, data compilations, and methods that surround patents and bring breakthrough products to market.  Often, this intellectual property cannot be protected by patent law, or other forms of protection are more appropriate.  If an employee leaves with your valuable secrets memorized or tucked in a briefcase, or if you are vulnerable to industrial espionage, theft, or violations of nondisclosure agreements, your business stands at risk. 

The most effective way to protect trade secrets is first to identify what qualifies for protection and then to develop and implement sophisticated trade secret policies and procedures tailored to your business.  With the necessary safeguards in place, you can then prove your own enforceable trade secret rights and be ready to act when the need arises.

Develop a strong foundation for your valuable trade secrets

Finnegan has provided trade secret protection to Fortune 500 and Global 1000 corporations, as well as innovative start-ups and organizations, across all industries. Working closely with each client’s legal, business, and technical personnel, we help identify all the elements surrounding an innovation or technology that will benefit from trade secret protection. We also keep a watchful eye out for types of information that might warrant patent or copyright protection, or protection through various forms of confidentiality and noncompete agreements.

Trade secret cases often proceed on a fast track. From the moment a problem arises, speed is essential to prevent loss of the secret or to control the damage.  This is where Finnegan brings a distinct advantage. Our practice spans virtually every imaginable technology in industries as varied as electronics and information technology, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and industrial manufacturing, and it covers all aspects of trade secret protection. More than 90 of our professionals hold Ph.D.’s ranging from neurobiology to electrical engineering, and more than 60 have served as patent examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  We bring immediate and comprehensive legal and technical resources to each matter to help you create a barrier of protection. If litigation is needed, our deep understanding of the technology allows us to devise persuasive and accurate strategies, and to resolve the matter quickly.

Our trade secret lawyers stay current by constantly surveying legal developments in a wide range of sources, including case law in all 50 states; state statutory and regulatory laws; the Uniform Trade Secrets Act; and the Federal Economic Espionage Act, which provides federal criminal and civil penalties for misappropriation of trade secret information.

Realize the full value of trade secrets

Depending on your business and competitive situation, leveraging patents, trade secrets, or portions of your IP portfolio has the potential to generate revenue streams and open new markets. These contracts may be simple licenses or complex strategic alliances that provide product and market access to both parties.

Finnegan is a pioneer in licensing and in the development of IP transactions. Our lawyers played an instrumental role in the establishment and ongoing leadership of the Licensing Executives Society. Our deep understanding of the underlying technology, licensing law, business, and ways of leveraging technology and IP assets brings our clients a strategic advantage. We can analyze the potential for generating royalty income from existing trade secrets, then formulate and execute licensing programs to help you realize their full revenue potential. We advise on everything in a transaction program, beginning with an initial confidential evaluation agreement through management of your portfolio of executed IP agreements.

Obtain immediate protection and relief

When litigation becomes necessary to protect our clients’ trade secrets, or to address a challenge from a competitor, our trial lawyers draw on decades of experience in federal and state courts throughout the United States.  We have successfully litigated hundreds of cases involving the most technologically advanced and complex innovations.  Trade secrets present unique challenges. We have a proven track record in obtaining ex parte and preliminary injunctions to preserve trade secrets. With preliminary injunctive relief in hand, your adversary is much more likely to settle before trial.