Protecting Know-How And Trade Secrets In Collaborative R&D Relationships

OVERVIEW: Collaborative R&D is growing rapidly, and the need to share proprietary intellectual assets is central to these relationships. Equally important is the need to protect that information from unintended use. Firms use legal as well as non-legal methods to protect their intellectual assets. Legal methods include crafting a series of agreements and linking the agreements to the activities of the collaboration. Non-legal methods include ensuring that employees in both firms understand what information must be shared with the partner, may be shared with the partner and must never be shared with the partner. Training also includes a clear understanding of each firm's rights-to-use the disclosed information.