Start with the information and the people who use it.
A manufacturing process, internal model or commercial plan may pass between founders, employees, suppliers and potential partners. We help you examine that flow of information: what needs to remain confidential, who needs access and where avoidable exposure may arise.
Our role is to organise the IP questions and coordinate the next steps within an agreed scope. Where a matter requires legal drafting, a security assessment or dispute-related advice, the appropriate specialist involvement is made clear.
How we can support you
- Confidential know-how identification
- Information and access-practice reviews
- Disclosure and collaboration planning
- Confidentiality and ownership issue-spotting
- IP agreement and licence coordination
- Specialist support for related IP issues
How the work fits together
- 01
Identify the material and its value
We help you describe the categories of know-how and sensitive information that matter to the business. The first enquiry should describe the issue, not disclose the secret itself.
- 02
Review access and sharing practices
We discuss who uses the information, where it is kept and how it moves to employees, collaborators or external partners. Existing procedures and agreements are reviewed as inputs for the agreed assessment.
- 03
Coordinate practical next steps
The outcome may be a prioritised set of handling improvements, questions for a confidentiality or ownership agreement, or specialist input on a proposed collaboration. The plan should be usable by the people who handle the information.
Secrecy has to be supported in practice.
Trade secret protection generally depends on information remaining secret, having commercial value because of that secrecy and being subject to reasonable protective measures. The appropriate measures depend on the circumstances. Patent filing and keeping information secret also raise different disclosure choices.
A useful brief for our first conversation
- The type of information at issue, without sharing the confidential contents.
- Who currently has access and what collaboration or disclosure is being proposed.
- Existing handling practices, agreements and any urgent concern about information leaving the business.
Do not send a formula, process file, source-code archive or other secret through the initial enquiry form. We can discuss an appropriate information-sharing arrangement first.
Services, deliverables and responsibilities are agreed for each engagement. Jurisdiction-specific regulated work and local representation involve appropriately qualified practitioners where required. General information is not advice on a particular matter, and no search, application or commercial result is guaranteed.
Background reading: WIPO — Trade secrets & related support ↗. General principles vary in application by jurisdiction.