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An educational guide to U.S. trade secret law — what qualifies as a trade secret, the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) and the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA), NDAs and reasonable secrecy measures, misappropriation, and how trade secrets compare with patent protection. These guides map to the trade-secret modules of the Wysebridge IP Law Certificate.
5 core guides · 3 more articles
What qualifies, how to protect it, and what happens when it is taken.
A trade secret is valuable information a business keeps confidential. Here is the legal definition under the DTSA and UTSA, what qualifies, and how trade secrets differ from patents.
Trade-secret protection depends on taking reasonable measures to keep information secret. Here is the practical program — NDAs, access controls, marking, and training — courts expect to see.
NDAs are the front line of trade-secret protection. Here is how they work, the difference between mutual and one-way NDAs, and the key terms every NDA should contain.
Misappropriation is the wrongful acquisition, disclosure, or use of a trade secret. Here is how the law defines it, what counts as improper means, and the remedies available under the DTSA.
Discover the key distinctions between trade secrets and patents in this insightful article.
Articles and analysis, newest first.
Learn U.S. patent law — provisional vs. non-provisional applications, claim drafting, patentability, and USPTO prosecution. Clear, practical guides.
Learn U.S. trademark law — Trademark Search (formerly TESS), TSDR, registration, office actions, and TTAB disputes. Clear, USPTO-grounded guides.
A clear guide to U.S. copyright law — what it protects, registration, fair use, work made for hire, the DMCA, and how copyright differs from trademark.
Clear definitions of trademark, patent, and USPTO terminology — applications, specimens, the TTAB, the Madrid Protocol, distinctiveness, and more.
Every IP career path: patent agent, patent attorney, examiner, paralegal, licensing manager, and IP counsel.
Go from reading to credential
These guides cover the same ground as the Wysebridge IP Law Certificate — a 20-chapter practitioner course spanning trademark, patent, copyright, and trade-secret law. Module 1 is free for everyone.