Friday, October 30, 2009

Apple and Psystar's trade secret agreement

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/apple-and-psystar-finally-agreeto-keep-trade-secrets-secret.ars

There has been a fierce battle between Apple and the company Psystar that resulted in a lawsuit over a computer that Psystar was distributing that Apple deemed to be a clone of their own. This article has nothing to do with that, however, and everything to do with how trade secrets are shared and handled.

They have agreed to define exactly what is meant by trade secret laws in this case. Any file labelled "Confidential" will be considered something that can be seen by attorney's and up to two employees in either company, and anything labelled "Confidential - Attorney's Eyes Only" will limit it to being seen by only the attorney and court. This is a pretty vital step in a long and ongoing case.

It may seem a bit unnecessary, since it isn't really a case dealing with trade secrets, but the fact that they needed to specify how information is handled in court to prevent any trade secret infringement shows exactly how important these trade secrets are to companies.

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