PRACTICE AREA : Trial & Litigation

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION QUESTIONNAIRE

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Are you doing all you can to protect your company’s investment in its intellectual property assets? According to some surveys, trade secrets are most commonly lost or stolen through departing or disgruntled employees. This could be intentional, as when, for example, a departing or disgruntled employee intentionally copies data and takes it with him or her. Or, it can be “inevitable,” where the departing employee only takes what is in his head, but, perhaps unintentionally, puts that knowledge to use at his new employment.

Take this quick and easy test to see how our company rates on protecting its intellectual property assets. To see how you’ve done, click Scoring.

Existence of Confidential/Trade Secret Information

• Does your company have confidential information that if disclosed to a competitor would give them a competitive advantage?

YES ___ NO ____

Company Policies 

• Do employees have access to, or knowledge of, information the company considers to be confidential and/or trade secret information?

YES ____ NO ____

• Does your company prohibit intentional downloading (as opposed to, for example, automatic creation of temp files) of confidential information to hard drives of laptop computers that an employee can take with him/her when he/she leaves the company’s premises?

YES ____ NO ____

• Does your company have written policies about maintaining the confidentiality of information the company considers to be confidential?

YES ____ NO ____

• Does your company have written policies about transfer of confidential information outside the company (for example, to a home computer) by email or other medium?

YES ____ NO ____

• Does your company have written policies about discussion of confidential information with individuals who are not employees of the company?

YES ____ NO ____

• Does your company limit or restrict access to confidential information based on the employee’s level and/or position with the company?

YES ____ NO ____

• Does your company periodically perform audits to determine compliance with its policies on confidential information?

YES ____ NO ____

Hiring Employees

• When hiring an employee, does your company require him/her to sign a confidentiality agreement?

YES ____ NO ____

• When hiring an employee, does your company require him/her to sign a “no-raiding” or non-recruitment agreement?

YES ____ NO ____

• When hiring an employee, does your company require him/her to sign an agreement assigning all rights to all inventions to the company?

YES ____ NO ____

• When offering stock options to an employee, does the stock option agreement contain a confidentiality provision and/or a nondisclosure agreement within the stock option agreement?

YES ____ NO ____

Non-Compete Agreements

• When hiring a managerial level employee, does your company require him/her to sign a non-compete agreement?

YES ____ NO ____

• Does your company require a non-compete agreement for non-managerial level employees who have access to the company’s confidential information?

YES ____ NO ____

• Is your company’s non-compete agreement integrated with a stock option agreement, a confidentiality agreement or non-disclosure agreement? In other words, is the non-compete agreement a separate and distinct agreement or is it tied to another agreement?

YES ____ NO ____

• Is the non-compete limited in duration?

YES ____ NO ____

• Is the non-compete agreement limited in geographic scope or region?

YES ____ NO ____

• Is the non-compete agreement limited in the scope of the job that is being restricted?

YES ____ NO ____

Departing Employees

• Does your company conduct exit interviews with departing employees?

YES ____ NO ____

• If your company conducts exit interviews, does your company require the employee to sign a statement acknowledging the exit interview and summarizing the information discussed during the exit interview?

YES ____ NO ____

• If your company conducts exit interviews and employees sign a confidentiality agreement, does your company require the employee to sign a statement acknowledging that he/she has signed a confidentiality agreement and that he/she considers it to be valid and enforceable?

YES ____ NO ____

• If your company conducts exit interviews, does your company inquire where the departing employee is going and what job position and responsibilities he/she will have at the new job?

YES ____ NO ____

• If your company conducts exit interviews, does your company require the employee to return all items that allow him/her access to the premises and/or confidential information?

YES ____ NO ____

• Does your company immediately escort departing employees out of the building and cut off access to company documents and computers as soon as notified of the departing employee’s termination/resignation?

YES ____ NO ____

DISCLAIMER:

The information contained in this questionnaire is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. No Attorney-Client relationship is created unless and until we formally accept representation of you. Please contact us for further information at (512) 225-5800.

For more information, please contact any of the attorneys listed below, or send an e-mail to info@smith-robertson.com.

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