How To Capitalize On The Defend Trade Secrets Act

Benjamin H. McCoy authored The Legal Intelligencer article, "How to Capitalize on the Defend Trade Secrets Act."

Historically, the success (or lack thereof) of a business often can be traced to the quality and quantity of its trade secrets, which are the legal embodiment of a "competitive business advantage." Recent developments in the intellectual property landscape have only served to enhance the value of trade secrets. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Alice v. CLS Bank International, 134 S. Ct. 2347, 189 L. Ed. 2d 296 (2014), has led to an increasingly hostile patent marketplace. Faced with trying to obtain a patent for a business method that may implicate Alice, many businesses are ­choosing to extract value through trade secret ­protections instead.