"So, how can these smaller businesses know if they have valuable IP worth protecting?
According to [Leonard] Marquez [from Wendel Rosen Black & Dean], most IP counsel can conduct what is often referred to as an IP audit. Counsel can work with management to review the company’s operations and spot issues where IP is being generated, but where the company may not have all the protocols and other measures in place that it should to protect that IP...
What can smaller businesses do to ensure their IP is protected?
According to Marquez, once there is a recognition of the need to protect the company’s IP, management should proactively reach out to IP counsel. Each type of IP implicates its own unique set of considerations as far as protecting that IP.
He added, “Many trade secret misappropriation cases are won or lost on that issue alone. Each category of IP being generated and handled has to be considered and the appropriate measures taken to protect that IP.”"
