Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP assists its clients in establishing confidentiality procedures and in determining the appropriate means of protecting trade secrets. The firm is experienced in drafting a wide variety of agreements for the protection of trade secrets, such as non-disclosure agreements, employment agreements, consulting agreements, invention development agreements, manufacturing agreements, licensing agreements, etc.

Many types of information can be the subject of trade secret protection. Trade secret protection sometimes is more desirable than patents or other forms of intellectual property protection that may require public disclosure.

Problems commonly faced by clients include the misappropriation and unauthorized disclosure of trade secrets by former employees, vendors, contractors and competing businesses. Protection of trade secrets embodied in computer programs is often an important part of a client's intellectual property protection program. The usual steps taken to protect these trade secret rights include the use of licensing agreements with confidentiality requirements, non-disclosure agreements for third party developers, distribution of the software in executable form only and heightened security at the place of storage of the source code copies. Further, U.S. Copyright registration is usually available for computer programs without disclosing any trade secrets. The U.S. Copyright Office has specifically recognized the importance of trade secrets in computer programs and has promulgated regulations that provide for several deposit copy options that involve the submission of only a portion of the entire code.

The protection of trade secrets and the avoidance of infringement of the trade secrets of others are important aspects of the firm's practice.

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