Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets

Intangible assets: the heart of the modern business

The value of the modern business lies in its intangible assets: brand and goodwill (trademarks), works and content (copyright), developments and designs (patents, registered designs, and models under the applicable law), and above all, trade secrets: customer lists and their terms, formulas, pricing, production processes, and business plans. The Commercial Torts Law, Tashnat-1999, protects a trade secret whose owner took reasonable measures to preserve it, and alongside misappropriation of a trade secret, also establishes the torts of passing off and false description.

The common scenario: the employee who moved to a competitor

A key employee who leaves, taking with him the client list, proposals, and know-how, to a competitor or an independent business: this is the common intellectual property dispute in the economy. The law balances the employee's freedom of occupation against protection of the secret: sweeping non-compete clauses are not enforced in themselves, but proven misappropriation of a trade secret is enforced firmly: injunctions, compensation (including statutory compensation without proof of damage in the appropriate wrongs), and delivery and destruction orders. The evidentiary key: proving the existence of a defined secret, the measures taken to preserve it, and the actual use made of it, usually through computing expert opinions documenting extractions and copies on the eve of departure.

Real-time action

In intellectual property, delay may make it harder to obtain temporary relief: every day that the competitor uses the secret or the brand deepens the damage. The urgent tools are: a temporary injunction order prohibiting action (sale of an asset, convening an assembly, use of a secret, construction); civil search and seizure orders to preserve evidence on the defendant's computers; and disclosure orders. On the other hand, businesses and employees attacked with baseless claims of a "trade secret" regarding general and professional knowledge are entitled to full protection of freedom of occupation.

Representation in intellectual property disputes

Israel Arama represents businesses, employers, and employees in disputes involving trade secrets, goodwill, and intellectual property, in urgent relief proceedings and claims. Contact us immediately upon discovering the leak.