On December 13, 2021, the Trade Secret and Unfair Competition Committee convened Trade Secrets Summit – Part 2. Two panels of practitioners discussed transactional aspects of trade secret law and practice. The first panel included Tim Oliver of Grogan, Hesse & Uditsky, Josh Rich of McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff, and Honeyeh Zube of McDonald’s Corporation, moderated by Olivia Luk Bedi of Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg. The panel discussed trade secrets in the non-employee context, including when and how to use non-disclosure agreements for joint ventures, best practices on how to counsel clients on identification of intellectual property for patent or trade secret protection, and how to catalogue your trade secrets and keep them protected. The second panel included Bill Beckman of Progress Rail and Debbie Berman of Jenner & Block, moderated by April Otterberg of Jenner & Block.
The panel addressed trade secrets in the employee context focusing on the current environment posing risks for the protection of trade secrets, including in light of remote work or hybrid remote work situations, how to protect trade secrets and confidential information within and among a company’s own employees, and the changing legal landscape for the use of restrictive covenants in employment agreements.