In June 2017 law firm Baker McKenzie published an highly relevant and interesting report: “The Board Ultimatum, Protect and Preserve. The Rising Importance of Safeguarding Trade Secrets“. Key findings of the survey:
- Four out of five (82%) senior executives say their trade secrets are an important, if not essential, part of their business, while 60% say protecting their trade secrets is a board-level issue
- One in five companies think or know they have had trade secrets stolen
- But only one-third of companies maintain inventories of their trade secrets and have action plan for responding to trade secret theft
- Theft by ex-employees and third-party suppliers are the biggest sources of anxiety among two-thirds of executives
For IPEG this is a good reason, together with the approaching date of June 2018 for the implementation of the EU Directive on Trade Secrets (officially named: “on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure”) to organize a
Workshop in The Netherlands in October 2017 outlining the main issues related to trade secrets, it’s importance and relevance for industries in various sectors as well as the introduction of the IPEG Trade Secret Management Tool developed by Donal O’Connell, IPEG consultant