Certain types of proprietary information are invaluable to business owners in Texas. Accordingly, you want to guarantee that your company’s prized trade secrets remain confidential and do not fall into the hands of similar enterprises. Failure to do so can result in your business losing its footing among competitors, which will greatly limit your chance of success.
The U.S. Small Business Association offers several methods to help you enhance your protection of trade secrets. As the leader of your business, you must ensure that your workers fully comprehend the severity of trade secret theft. In addition to providing general information on protecting proprietary information, you can also utilize nondisclosure agreements to prevent former employees from disseminating confidential data. You should also take steps to physically secure documentation listing important information, which can be accomplished by limiting access to only approved individuals.
Of course, in order to protect trade secrets you must first identify what information falls under this designation. While valuable information can be different for every business, you can determine what is essential to your enterprise by considering what sort of data would be useful to competitors. Trade secrets can include recipes, customer logs, operational techniques, work processes and many other pieces of info.
You should also understand the legal process governing theft of proprietary data. Many states (including Texas) base their trade secret legislation on the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. While laws are in place, you are not required to apply for protection in the same way you would for trademarks and patents. This only underscores the importance of properly identifying and securing valuable information.