Re: Patents -Forwarded
Bob_Maxey@mtn.3com.com
Tue, 19 May 1998 15:21:15 -0600
>> The problem with a trade-secret is that there is no protection against
someone simply figguring out what is being done or discovering it in the
process of trying to solve a particular problem. As long as that person
had no direct knowledge of the secret process and found the knowledge
independently, he/she can use it freely.
I am sure there many complications to this, as there tend to be with any
legal issue, and I am not a lawyer or legal expert, but the above is
accurate in overall terms.
There was a case here in Utah where someone discovered independently, what
one company called in court, a trade secret. The secret was not patented,
so the person who discovered the other firms Trade Secret patented it and
turned the company trade secret into a protected patent. Big mess and
fought in court for quite some time.