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Trade Secret Risks Seen as Elevated in "Clean Technology" Field

This report from CNNMoney.com caught our eye. The piece concerns the rise of intellectual property lawsuits in the "clean technologies" sector.

Brian C. Yerger, and analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities Corp., compared what is happening to the information-technology book of the late 1990s.

"Many start-ups and some established companies are pursuing the same endgame ( for example, cheaper or more efficient solar cells) from differing technological viewpoints," Yerger said, "and in that pursuit are discovering processes and trade secrets that perhaps mimic another company's internal processes.

"Once the technology is patent-protected by one company or another, patent disputes erupt as to who developed or created the technology first," he said.

This confirms our experiences with any nascent technology or competitive environment - capital rushes in and labor battles occur as a result. There is fear in the former employers that their intellectual property capital is at risk and that's where the fighting begins.

Full post as published by Womble Trade Secrets Blog on June 09, 2008 (boomark / email).