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Trade Secret Law And Information Development Incentives, Michael Risch
Trade Secret Law And Information Development Incentives, Michael Risch
Michael Risch
Trade secrets differ from other forms of intellectual property in many subtle ways that affect incentives to invest in information development. These differences relate not only to the types of information protected, but also to the requirements one must meet to protect that type of information. The various divergences and intersections of trade secret laws with other intellectual property laws lead to differences in the amount and types of investments companies make in developing information. This chapter explores five types of differential incentives associated with trade secret law: - Trade secret law v. no trade secret law - Trade secret …
Why Do We Have Trade Secrets?, Michael Risch
Why Do We Have Trade Secrets?, Michael Risch
Michael Risch
Trade secrets are arguably the most important and most litigated form of intellectual property, yet very little has been written that justifies their existence, perhaps because they differ so much from other forms of intellectual property. This article explores the history of trade secret law in the United States and examines why it is that every state has opted to protect secret information, even though such protection is antithetical to the policies of access associated with patent law and non-protection of 'facts' associated with copyright law. In this article, I examine four potential ways to justify trade secret law. First, …
How Can Whelan V. Jaslow And Lotus V. Borland Both Be Right? Re-Examining The Economics Of Computer Software Reuse, Michael Risch
How Can Whelan V. Jaslow And Lotus V. Borland Both Be Right? Re-Examining The Economics Of Computer Software Reuse, Michael Risch
Michael Risch
The basic economic goal of copyright law is to balance an author's incentive to create with his or her ability to build on prior work in order to maximize social wealth. This balance is extremely important for computer software. On the one hand, software is often expensive to create and companies therefore need protection in order to recoup their investment. On the other hand, software is often expensive to create and companies can save costs by reusing pre-existing work. Quite often, the same companies that want to protect their software also want to use pre-existing work. As a result of …