Clay M. White Intellectual Property Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Intellectual property rights are the most valuable assets of your business.  They need to be guarded and protected. 

Intellectual property encompasses four basic categories of law, each of which governs distinct creations of different types. The four basic categories of intellectual property are:

• Copyrights
• Patents
• Trademarks
• Trade secrets

Each has its own set of rules that are best explained by an experienced intellectual property attorney.

In general, copyrights protect original works of authorship from the moment they are created and fixed in a tangible form. Patents protect new and useful machines, articles, substances, or processes through exclusive rights granted by the federal government. Trademarks protect identifying marks that distinguish goods or services, such as names, logos, designs, and emblems used in commerce.  Think of them as branding.  Trade secrets protect confidential business information or proprietary information such as business plans, chemical formulas, customer lists, devices, and even know-how.

Remedies available

If someone violates or infringes on your intellectual property rights, your intellectual property attorney will be able to take action to remedy the situation and may pursue intellectual property litigation.  Depending on the situation, your attorney may ask for injunctive relief to order a defendant to stop violating your rights, or to preserve the secrecy of information if a trade secret has been stolen.   A court can also make a defendant pay money damages for the economic harm suffered as a result of certain intellectual property right violations.

Trade secrets in Texas

Texas has not adopted a version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) and the state does not have a statute governing trade secrets law. Instead, trade secret law in Texas is based solely on the common law.  But like the UTSA, Texas law creates liability for misappropriation of someone else's trade secret. Texas law may impose criminal penalties for stealing trade secrets.

The statute of limitations for a trade secret claim in Texas is three years. An intellectual property law firm in Texas can ensure that you meet all deadlines and can help maximize the damages you receive for violation of your intellectual property rights.