Confidential business and trade secret information is more than the stuff of corporate espionage.  It is the competitive edge of any  business, regardless of size, and deserves protection.

Set up the proper safeguards to protect you confidential and trade secret information and you’ll be able to pursue your legal remedies the way Home Depot recently did.

When Home Depot’s senior manager in product engineering was caught sharing competitive pricing information with a vendor in hopes of negotiating a favorable employment package, Home Depot took action.  They called in the FBI to investigate and the engineer’s employment prospects significantly dimmed after he was sentenced to 4 months in prison, 4 months of home confinement, 3 years of probation, and a fine of $10,000.

Just because intellectual property like trade secrets are intangibles doesn’t mean they can’t have a real impact on you business.  They’re real. FBI special agent Greg Jones said it best when he said, ” Intellectual property-related cases are serious criminal cases with high dollar stakes.”

Think about that the next time a job candidate offers to bring along a briefcase full of information.  The next time they job hop the data on their flash drive could be yours.

Lawsuits are sometimes viewed as a necessary evil, or a cost of doing business.  But the cost is often steeper than most imagine.  That point was aptly made in a recent article I found about the European Commission’s decision to launch an antitrust investigation against Google.

For starters, the EU probe requires Google to divert time and money toward handling the investigation.  Those costs will necessarily include the preparation of a legal defense.

The fact that the EU is conducting an investigation could turn into a litigation lightning rod – other countries may launch their own antitrust probes and competitors might use the information gathered in these government investigations to launch their own civil actions.

It’s no fun being turned into a litigator’s chew toy.  Costs can start to spiral very quickly, as Toyota has recently discovered.

One way to avoid such distractions is with better risk management techniques.  As I recently discussed, one study shows that companies who prioritize their risk and put resources behind managing the biggest threats experienced 20 higher revenue growth and up to 50 percent higher earnings than their peers.

Now that’s something worth getting distracted about!

Recipes for top performing food products are among the most jealously guarded business trade secrets in the world.  Think secret sauce.  Think Coca-Cola®.  Think the Kentucky Fried Chicken®.  Think Thomas’ English Muffins! 

Bimbo Bakeries USA, the owner of Thomas’ English Muffins has sued a former 20 year employee in Pennsylvania, one of only 10 people in the world to whom the famous muffin recipe was entrusted.  What did he do?  He went to work for a competitor Hostess Brands Inc. and even though he hasn’t actually “stolen” any trade secrets, Bimbo says it’s inevitable that he’ll share his knowledge about the “special nooks and crannies.”

What do you think?  Should the bad thing have to happen first?  Or should a business be able to nip it in the bud? 

Share your opinion below and also join me on February 3 at 8 pm Eastern (5 pm Pacific) for a free teleseminar with attorney Mark Saloman of Proskauer Rose, LLP on Ask the No Nonsense Lawyer when we’ll discuss how to protect your business trade secrets. 

Click here now for more details.  

Have you heard about Asher B. Edelman?  He did a ton of valuable research to help him find the perfect acquisition target.  He analyzed their finances, he poured over their business operations and ownership structure and he also retained a company to help him arrange for financing and identify a potential business partner to join him in the acquisition.  That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Edelman’s research, marked confidential, was shared with the potential business partner on the basis of a hand shake agreement.  After reviewing the proposal, the partner decided not to join in Edelman’s venture.  Now fast forward six years later.  The potential partner of old buys the same acquisition target in an auction and Edelman is not too happy about it.  In fact, he was so unhappy that he sued.  He claimed the would-be partner improperly used and profited from the information shared years earlier.

The court, however, made Edelman even more unhappy.  It didn’t buy his claim for misappropriation of proprietary information.  They said he didn’t make sure that the information stayed secret.  He didn’t take sufficient precautions.   How’s that for a slap in the face?

Your confidential business information and trade secrets are too important to let fall into the Edelman trap. 

Find out what you need to do to keep your trade secrets and confidential information protected by joining me on February 3, 2010 at 8 pm Eastern, 5 pm Pacific when I interview attorney Mark Saloman on my teleseminar program, Ask the No Nonsense Lawyer.  Mark is a member of the Non-Compete & Trade Secret Group at the law firm of Proskauer Rose and an expert on protecting and enforcing business confidentiality.  Best of all, the program is free.  There is no registration fee.

Don’t wait.  You could be leaving your business wide open to trade secret theft and not even know it.  Click here now to learn more about this free and informative teleseminar.  Space is limited, reserve your spot today.

Making sure your business “family jewels” are protected is one of the best business investments you’ll ever make.   

Copyright © 2010, Corporate M.O., LLC.