By Khizar Alam Khan
Pakistan Observer Newspaper online edition

Pakistan provides a wide range of protection for intellectual property through the federal registration of trademarks and service marks through federal patent protection and copyright protection under state laws, through protection of trade secrets and marks. Federal protections extend only throughout Pakistan. Pakistan IPR laws confer little or no protection in other countries. To secure full patent rights in another country, you must apply for a patent in that country.

Some advantages and minimum standards for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property do exist under treaties or other international agreements. For example, copyright protection is automatic in all WTO countries without any formality (such as registration, copyright notice, etc.), and is extended on the basis of national treatment-that is, a Pakistan author suing in France under French copyright law is entitled to the same protection as a French author suing in France under French copyright law. The World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPs) upgraded standards of protection for a full range of IPR. The agreement also provides for the effective enforcement of those standards both internally and at the border. The TRIPs Agreement is the first multilateral intellectual property agreement that is enforceable between governments. The agreement has a strong dispute settlement mechanism to resolve disputes. The question of whether to pursue international protection for your IPR is not always particularly defined for example , there may be cases when it is advisable to forego patent protection to safeguard trade secrets and sensitive information that may need to be published in the patent process. In any case, the first step in determining if IPR protection is right for your company is to secure the services of specialized legal counsel. It is important to note that in addition to obtaining patent protection, you should also protect your trade secrets through appropriate confidentiality provisions in employment, licensing, marketing, financing, distribution, and joint venture agreements.

By Louis Porter and Daniel Barlow
Vermont Press Bureau

Doctor-industry transparency

Lawmakers and advocates will push this year for greater transparency between doctors and health professionals in Vermont and the medical industry, including the companies that make the medications doctors prescribe.

The Vermont Attorney General's office issues a report annually that details how much money the medical industry gave in gifts and donations to doctors -- but that list contains loopholes that allow for under-reporting and are difficult to use.

Lawmakers say they want to strip the "trade secrets" provision from the state law and set up an online database for health care consumers to determine if their doctors have relationships that are troubling or if their hands are clean.

Expect the pharmaceutical industry to fight this change hard.

To read the complete article from Rutland Herald Online click here.

Patentees brought action against competitor, alleging infringement of
patent which described a computer program for developing component-based software
capable of performing tasks relating to insurance transactions, such as claims
processing, and also claims for trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition
and deceptive trade practices in violation of the Delaware Uniform Deceptive Trade
Practices Act (DTPA), common law unfair competition, and tortious interference
with business relations. Competitor filed counterclaims for declaratory judgments
of non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability, breach of contract, as well
as claims of bad faith litigation as proscribed by the Lanham Act and the DPTA,
and the common law of unfair competition. Competitor moved to dismiss patentees'
state law claims and trade secret misappropriation claims, and patentees moved to
dismiss or, in the alternative, to bifurcate and stay competitor's bad faith
litigation counterclaims.

Holdings: The District Court, Sue L. Robinson, J., held that:

(1) patentees failed to allege that competitor obtained their trade secrets by
improper means, as required to state a trade secret misappropriation claim under
the Delaware Uniform Trade Secrets Act (DUTSA);

(2) patentees failed to state a prima facie claim for tortious interference with
a business relationship under Delaware law;

(3) patentees did not sufficiently allege an unfair competition claim under the
DTPA;

(4) competitor failed to sufficiently allege Lanham Act unfair competition
claim;

(5) patentees' statements did not represent competitor's goods as having

characteristics they did not have, disparage competitor's goods and business, or
create likelihood of confusion or misunderstanding, as would violate the DTPA; and

(6) competitor failed to state common law unfair competition claim.

Motions granted.

Background: Employee filed claim against former employer with the Department of
Labor for unpaid wages under the Wage Act. Employer removed the claim to Superior
Court for a jury trial, and moved to consolidate the action with its own pending action against employee for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets, among other claims. The Superior Court, Chancery Division, Union County, granted employer's motions, and employee filed motion for leave to appeal.

Holdings: The Superior Court, Appellate Division, Skillman, P.J.A.D., held
that:

(1) Wage Act claim was subject to Superior Court's plenary authority, and

(2) claim could be consolidated with employer's action.

Affirmed.

Metropolitan Corporate Counsel
Volume 16, Number 12 - December 2008
James P. Flynn
Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.

[T]rade on the Silk Road ...included...oasis merchants who served as intermediaries in this down-the-line trade, as it is called, [and who] were careful to discourage longer-distance trade by exaggerating the distances and dangers involved, and they suppressed detailed accounts of distant lands, treating such information as trade secrets. One odd result of this is that [those who]... were in regular trade contact ...were still almost entirely ignorant of each other.
- John Major,
Historical Background of the Silk Roads
(2002)
The 7000-mile Silk Road was one of the world's first great international trade routes. It moved westward across China, through Northern India and the Middle East, to Europe. Though many in today's economy do not regularly travel through the inhospitable Taklimakan desert and other difficult areas, China, India and Europe remain economically linked, and merchants must still protect their trade secrets in such regions. But now that requires more than guarding caravans. Now one's best protection comes from understanding the protections available under European, Indian, and Chinese law.

By ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA

Turkey has taken another step toward full utilization of nuclear energy by drafting a bill on nuclear energy that guarantees the nation will use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
The bill foresees the establishment of a Turkish Nuclear Regulatory Board (TNDK) as an independent body free from the influence of the state, politicians and individuals. The board members will take an oath before the administration board of the Supreme Court of Appeals before taking office. They must swear that they will conduct their duties with utter care, honesty and impartiality; that they will not act contrary to the provisions of the nuclear energy law or allow violation of these provisions; that they will not allow people to gain unfair benefits; that they will abide by the principles of equality; and that they will prioritize the security and safety of individuals, society and the environment.

The TNDK may request all sorts of information or documents from the applicants or authorized people provided that principles of confidentiality are preserved. If necessary, the TNDK may allow information which is not regarded as a state secret or professional or trade secret to be accessible to national or international organizations, public authorities or the general public.

To continue reading this interesting article from sundayszaman.com, click here.

By Joseph Romm

A new study puts the generation costs for power from new nuclear plants at 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt-hour--triple current U.S. electricity rates!

In contrast to this transparency, many nuclear promoters have adopted a "Black Box" approach. It has unfortunately been the case over the last couple of years that some utilities have begun to claim that even rudimentary basics of their nuclear cost estimates must be hidden from the public as "trade secrets." For instance, in the South Carolina Electric & Gas proposal to build two reactors now under consideration by the South Carolina PSC, there is literally a large "box" obscuring the bulk of the calculations in the SC E&G Exhibit which presents the utility's projection of construction and financing costs for the proposed two-unit facility. In a different case, Duke Energy claimed that it does not even have to disclose its new cost estimates for a proposed nuclear facility in Cherokee County, S.C.. In the Duke case, C. Dukes Scott, South Carolina's consumer advocate, who represents the public in utility rate cases, noted, "If the cost wasn't confidential in February," Scott said, "how is it confidential in April?"

To read the complete article from americanprogress.com please click here.

By The Mogambo Guru

Jim Willie of the Hat Trick Letter notes that Bloomberg has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve to force the Fed to give some details about where in the hell $700 billion went after disbursement from the TARP funds, a request and a lawsuit that the Fed is steadfastly fighting, tooth and nail.

The reason the Fed gives is that trade secrets are in there somehow! Mr. Willie says, "The USFed will continue to withhold internal memos as well as information about trade secrets and commercial information. Are you kidding me? TRADE SECRETS BY AN AGENCY HIRED TO MANAGE THE DOLLAR AND TREASURYS???"

To continue reading this interesting article from dailyreckoning.com, please click here.

By Dan Weikel and Louis Sahagun

In a closed meeting scheduled for today, the Long Beach City Council is set to discuss whether to lease some, if not all, of the city's small commercial airport to private investors, a move that could generate millions of dollars in municipal revenue.

The idea has already sparked controversy over whether such an important policy matter should be considered in secret and whether relinquishing control of a valuable city asset to a private company would be in the best interest of the public.

To continue reading this interesting article from the Los Angeles Times please click here.

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)

Google Inc. has jettisoned a substantial number of temporary workers in a recent austerity drive spurred by the recession, although the Internet search leader still intends to spend billions of dollars during the next two years on product research, development and acquisitions.

The filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission was submitted on Dec. 15, but it was made on paper, leaving it unavailable through the various Web services that track reports to the agency. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the records this week.
A key section of the filing is being kept confidential because Google maintains it contains trade secrets, but the publicly accessible parts provide some information that hadn't previously been disclosed.

To continue reading this interesting article from The Associated Press, click here.

By MARK HARRINGTON

While an attorney in his office last month sided with LIPA and Caithness in their refusal to disclose costs tied to a new Yaphank power plant, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli had already let the cat out of the bag.

That's because a public Web site called OpenBookNewYork.com already posted the $1.49-billion contract value of the plant along with hundreds of other contract costs for LIPA.

That appears to be news to Mark Schlosstein, a senior attorney in DiNapoli's office, who wrote to LIPA on Dec. 9 that the comptroller's office determined some cost figures requested by Newsday were "trade secrets" that if released would cause "substantial injury to both LIPA and Caithness' competitive positions."

To read the complete article from Newsday please click here.

By: Swati Deshpande

On Wednesday, Darius Khambata, counsel for Bombay Dyeing, informed the high court that there was evidence in the form of an e-mail sent out by Singh, which was recovered from his laptop that showed he had sent out confidential trade information about a software to a competitor, in violation of his service contract. Singh had joined the company in 2005, and his contract had a confidentiality clause. Khambata urged the court to restrain Singh, who he said had been terminated from service last May, for revealing the company's secrets.

"What is the threat to you now that he has gone away?'' Justice A V Nirgude asked Darius. "He will divulge trade information from which the company's competitors would profit...What better asset than to offer the firm's trade secrets if he sets up a consultancy.''

To continue reading this interesting article from The Times of India, click here.

By Cade Metz

An American prison inmate has sued Intel for $5 billion, insisting the chip maker's Core 2 Duo chip and its virtualization technology are based on trade secrets pilfered from him by way of Apple supremo Steve Jobs.

In court papers (PDF) recently filed with an Oregon-based US District Court, 43-year-old Matthew Robert Young claims that he shared these trade secrets with His Steveness in 2003 and that Jobs quickly spilled the beans to the world's largest chip maker.

After learning that Intel made an awful lot of money from microchips in 2006, Young says, he sent his Lancelot designs to Gelsinger and company.

To continue reading this interesting article from The Register click here.

Lanny Davis, an outside attorney representing Whole Foods, said in order for the company to defend itself against the lawsuits, it needs to obtain sensitive information from its competitors in each of the jurisdictions. Whole Foods needs to prove that it is competing against other grocers for customers in each of those areas.

Whole Foods is seeking to avoid a situation like the one that developed in the Portland, Ore. area last fall, Davis said. When Whole Foods sought to obtain the information from its competitors in that area for its antitrust case, one of those grocers, New Seasons Markets, accused Whole Foods of trying to steal trade secrets. The accusations led to significant media coverage in the Portland area.

"Our stores there suffered because people had the misinterpretation that we were doing this voluntarily to steal trade secrets," said Davis.

To continue reading this interesting article from the Jacksonville Business Journal click here.

By Maria Bruno-Britz

Trade secrets and intellectual property are perhaps two of the areas most overlooked at banks. However, now that the industry is facing unprecedented change, financial institutions would be wise to turn their attention toward protecting such proprietary information -- especially as it relates to erstwhile employees, says attorney Bradford Newman, chair of the Silicon Valley Employment Law Department and leader of the International Employee Mobility and Trade Secrets practice with the law firm Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP (New York).

"Most global financial institutions have fairly robust data usage policies. What's different now," Newman says, "is that we're seeing an unheralded number of employees being laid off at one time -- they are transitory. Banks need to recognize that when they have this kind of employee movement, controlling their data is of paramount importance." It's not unheard for laid-off workers to seek a position with a competitor of their former employer, he notes.

To continue reading this interesting article from Bank Systems & Technology, click here.

Whole Foods Market Inc. CEO John Mackey has sent a letter to 93 of the grocery chain's competitors across the country, asking them to provide pricing and other information that Whole Foods says it needs to fight multiple lawsuits filed by the Federal Trade Commission.

Whole Foods is seeking to avoid a situation like the one that developed in the Portland, Ore. area last fall, Davis said. When Whole Foods sought to obtain the information from its competitors in that area for its antitrust case, one of those grocers, New Seasons Markets, accused Whole Foods of trying to steal trade secrets. The accusations led to significant media coverage in the Portland area.

To continue reading this interesting article from Triangle Business Journal, click here.

Pammy J. Schiel, 47, of Fort Morgan has been sentenced in Morgan County District Court after pleading guilty to theft of trade secrets and felony theft for taking trade secrets and unauthorized checks from Morgan Surety Title Co. and later Northern Colorado Title.

Schiel was sentenced to a three-year suspended Department of Corrections (DOC) prison term, five years probation, $34,850.30, including restitution, and 100 hours useful public service (UPS) on the felony theft count.

Five were sentenced.

To continue reading this interesting article from The Fort Morgan Times, click here.

By: Doug Aamoth

Kentucky-based CMI has come under fire on more than one occasion for not turning over the source code used in the breathalyzers that it sells to various law enforcement agencies, citing trade secrets as the reason for keeping the code under wraps. Well that hasn't sat too well with people who have been pulled over and cited with DUIs, as some of them have claimed that the machines aren't registering blood alcohol levels accurately.

Just this week, 100 cases were thrown out of a Bradenton, Florida court after defense attorneys demanded to have the source code for CMI's Intoxilyzer 5000 examined by breathalyzer experts. Kentucky-based CMI refused to turn over the code and software used with its machines, despite threats of more than $2 million in fines.

When that technology is used as evidence in a trial, should it be open to scrutiny by the defense? Your thoughts?

To read the complete news article from Crunch Gear, click here.

By ALEXA HYLAND

International Rectifier Corp. has dodged a hostile takeover and weathered an accounting scandal. Now the El Segundo maker of power management chips is going to court with its former chief executive - the son of the company's founder - accusing him of stealing trade secrets.

The tension reached a critical point in September, when International Rectifier filed a federal suit accusing Alexander Lidow of engaging in an ongoing criminal enterprise - also known as a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization, or Rico - by stealing information, intellectual property and technology related to the company's secret research on a superconducting material that could become the future of semiconductor power management technology. A key hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 2.

To continue reading this interesting article from Los Angeles Business Journal click here.

The Associated Press

After months of battling to keep its trade secrets under wraps, New Seasons Market had agreed to hand over some operational information to rival grocer Whole Foods Market.

Whole Foods operates more than 270 stores. It is seeking the information to defend itself against Federal Trade Commission claims that its purchase of Wild Oats Markets created a natural foods monopoly.

To continue reading this interesting article from kgw news channel 8, click here.

By: Michael Maiello

In an exchange with the Web site TPMMuckraker, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) told journalists Zachary Roth and Elana Schor that "my instinct would be to release," copies of contracts that companies signed in order to receive federal money under the Trouble Asset Relief Program.  So far, Levin is holding onto the documents until his lawyer decides whether or not there would be legal ramifications should he make them public.

It's not clear what Levin is expected to protect, though.  Is the TARP classified?  Certainly some of the companies who have received TARP money have trade secrets that they want to protect but it's a long-held notion that companies give up some rights to guard trade secrets when they want to collect money from bond investors, stock investors or taxpayers.

To continue reading this interesting article from Forbes, click here.

By: David Walton

Bad economic times create opportunities for strong companies to poach good employees from a weakened competitor -- a signal for employers to aggressively protect trade secrets.

In fact, employees in sour economic conditions are apt to switch companies to head off potential job loss. This is especially true for workers controlling or having access to a "book" of business. For these employees, their book is their life. Oftentimes, their compensation at the new company is contingent, in part, on how much business follows them.

Here's a look at steps companies and their counsel can take to prevent trade secret theft and to act effectively if they believe a departing or new employee has stolen critical information.

To continue reading this interesting article from law.com, click here.

By: Brian Krebs

President Barack Obama's administration has sketched out a broad new strategy to protect the nation's most vital information networks from cyber attack and to boost investment and research on cyber security.

Among the key points are to set up a high-level post to tackle cyber security, consider new regulations to combat cyber crime and shore up the security of the nation's most sensitive computer networks.

Prevent Corporate Cyber-Espionage: Work with industry to develop the systems necessary to protect our nation's trade secrets and our research and development. Innovations in software, engineering, pharmaceuticals and other fields are being stolen online from U.S. businesses at an alarming rate.

To continue reading this interesting article from The Washington Post, click here.

BUSINESSWIRE

The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, seeks relief against the defendants for infringing SkinMedica's U.S. Patents No. 6,372,494 and/or 7,118,746. The ˜494 and ˜746 patents, which were filed in 1999 and 2000, respectively, relate to methods and uses of SkinMedica's proprietary conditioned cell media technology. The complaint also seeks relief for the misappropriation of SkinMedica trade secrets and confidential information by Histogen, Inc., Histogen Aesthetics, LLC and Dr. Naughton.

To read the complete news article from pharmalive.com click here.

A hearing is expected by early February regarding a federal lawsuit in the California Central District Court filed on 8 September by power-management chip maker International Rectifier Corp (IR) of El Segundo, CA, USA against former CEO Alexander Lidow (son of Eric Lidow, who founded IR in 1947 and was chairman until last May).

After starting work at IR in 1977, Dr Alex Lidow was CEO from 1995 until October 2007. He resigned following an investigation by an IR-appointed independent audit committee revealed that April that accounting irregularities (including premature revenue recognition of product sales at the firm's Japanese subsidiary) had cost IR about $117m, forcing it to restate two years of earnings.

To continue reading this interesting article from Semiconductor Today, click here.

By: Joe Mullin
IP Law & Business

Lawyers know that copying doesn't need to be present to prove patent infringement. Independent invention is not a defense to an allegation of infringement, and patent law stands alone, legally speaking, in that it actually punishes independent development. Other areas of intellectual property law, including copyright, trademark and trade secrets, all require proof of actual copying to hold a defendant liable.

But patent trials get played out on an emotional playing field, as well as a legal and technical one. Veteran trial lawyers and jury consultants say that most Americans think that infringement means inventors claiming they've been copied, their ideas "ripped off" or stolen. "Jurors will almost always talk about copying," says jury consultant Doug Green, even when copying has not been alleged.

To continue reading this interesting article from law.com, click here.

By: GARRY MITCHELL
Associated Press

Global chemical giant Ineos Phenol, stung by a $192 million jury verdict, has denied stealing a hazardous waste recycling idea from a Mobile chemist and said it would appeal a judge's order upholding the award.

Like most states, Alabama has a Trade Secrets Act that sets out civil remedies for the misappropriation of trade secrets. There is no governmental enforcement under that law, but rather it is enforced by civil lawsuits brought by individuals or businesses.

To continue reading this interesting article from MSNBC Wire Services, click here.

By: Michael C. Schmidt

Tough times require businesses to strengthen their resolve to avoid the legal tsunami that can also result from the economy-driven decisions that are made. This article sets forth best practices for ensuring that your company minimizes its potential exposure in 5 primary areas.

1. The Trade Secret And Unfair Competition Dilemma

An economic downturn increases the likelihood that senior-level employees will leave your company either involuntarily or voluntarily. Among the critical issues involved with such departures is the fear that a former employee might disclose your company's trade secrets to the outside world or unfairly compete. Businesses must, therefore, consider whether to seek the enforcement of non-compete and non-disclosure agreements, or, alternatively, whether to request that employees who remain with the company sign such agreements.

To continue reading this interesting article from Mondaq.com click here.

By: Chloe Albanesius

A legal dispute between Apple and IBM over a former IBM employee hired to serve as Apple's new senior vice president of devices hardware engineering has been resolved, Apple announced Tuesday.

Mark Papermaster will start work on April 24, reporting to chief executive Steve Jobs, who is currently on a six-month health-related hiatus. Papermaster is prohibited from disclosing IBM trade secrets to Apple employees.

To continue reading this interesting article from PC Magazine, click here.

By: Mark Grossman

In the connected world that is 2009, almost every company has a trade secret that it wants to keep. Between BlackBerrys, home e-mail accounts, and USB ports that can write gigs of data to a flash drive, it's only getting harder to protect your trade secrets. If you aren't careful, your trade secrets can walk right out the door--and without a well-written contract, you may have little legal recourse.

If you are a start-up, your hoped-for million dollar valuation is tied to your trade secrets. If you are an established business, you may have and continue to develop trade secrets, which likewise may be quite valuable to you. For any business, maintaining trade secrets requires a combination of common sense and good lawyering.

To continue reading this interesting article from networkworld, click here.

By: Jimmie E. Gates

Five former Eaton Aerospace engineers now are facing charges of possession of trade secrets under a new federal indictment.

The trial of Rodney Case, Kevin Clark, Mike Fulton, Douglas Murphy and James Ward had been set this month for April 13 on a conspiracy-to-defraud charge, but it's uncertain whether the new indictment will affect the date.

The five engineers initially were accused of stealing secrets from Jackson-based Eaton Aerospace and of taking them to Frisby Aerospace in Clemmons, N.C., where they started working in January 2002. Frisby now is known as Triumph Actuation Systems.

To continue reading this interesting article from The Clarion Ledger, click here.

Source: Oklahoma State Senate

Oklahoma State Sen. Dan Newberry has filed legislation to strengthen the state's laws on business data protection. SB 1013 adds copying customer lists and business records without authorization to the state's criminal statutes concerning larceny of trade secrets.

"We have examples every day of individuals stealing information that should be kept private, and using it for personal gain. Theft like this can have serious consequences for the companies that fall victim to it," said Newberry, R-Tulsa. "We need to strengthen our laws to help protect the rights of our businesses and their owners."

To continue reading this interesting article from Insurance Journal click here.