Management of business secrets, whether formal trade secrets, confidential information or data requires a pragmatic approach, with a people-centric focus on strategic management across the organisation.
1. Build IP awareness of the basic IP issues
Awareness of IP issues related to the organisation’s business with all team members. This should:
- Make individuals aware of the needs and risks associated with the various forms of IP
- Identify the importance of Open Source licence types, and establish good / bad licence types
- Build awareness of IP and expectations for confidentiality
- Particularly for any contracting staff, clarify the need for confidentiality beyond immediate projects
Take steps to educate employees and contractors about the existence of trade secrets and other confidential information in the business – this does not mean exposing them to the information, but making them aware of different levels of importance and the policies / processes in place to manage them.
Consider locking down sensitive information to a “need to know” basis. Leakage of trade secret information is often “accidental”, and may be because employees don’t know that the information is trade secret.
Consider IT solutions that limit access, but also track and audit access to sensitive information – for software based systems this may be part of version control systems.
As individuals progress in the business it may be appropriate to adjust employee contracts to reflect access to more sensitive information, e.g. extending notice periods from 1 to 3-months for senior employees that will have had access to more sensitive information.
Consider non-compete clauses to reduce the risk of employees moving to direct competitors.