This course examines the law and legal theories related to identifying and protecting competitive business interests and confidential business information — one of the fastest growing areas of intellectual property law outside of traditional patent, copyright and trademark concerns. In general, the course covers trade secret identification, protection and misappropriation; covenants not to compete and other forms of restrictive covenants, including noncompetition, nonsolicitation, confidentiality and assignment of invention agreements; applicable state and federal statutes, case law and common law duties; litigation strategies and the many practical issues regarding the protection of confidential information, customers and other legitimate business interests given today’s highly mobile and computerized workplace. Litigation and client counseling strategies are also explored, with a practical focus of applying legal theories to typical situations confronted in this rapidly developing area of law.
