Arizona Trade Secret Laws

Hi, I’m Maria Speth I’m an attorney with the law firm of Jaburg & Wilk. I practice in the areas of intellectual property and internet law.

What is an intellectual property lawyer?

When somebody is either investing in a company or thinking about buying a company there’s almost always a do diligence phase and most people do get their M&A lawyers, their merger & acquisition lawyers involved. But I think it’s important for people to consider getting an intellectual property attorney involved. Most M&A lawyers do not have deep understanding of intellectual property issues and intellectual property is interesting it doesn’t always behave like tangible property.

How does intellectual property differ from physical property?

There are ownership issues that are a little different. If someone hires somebody to create something for them and it’s intangible, it is not necessarily owned by the person who did the hiring – person who paid the money. So what we see many times in companies as they may hire graphic designers, software developers, photographers, all types of creative people who create things for the company who may or may not have signed the right documents to get ownership in the company.

Do I need an intellectual property lawyer if I buy a business?

In today’s world when you purchase a company often that purchase is – the value in that purchase is really wrapped up in intangible assets. If you are contemplating selling your business or you’re looking at an exit strategy it’s a great idea to have an intellectual property attorney early on to set things up and have the right foundation so that when you get to the point where you’re ready to sell all of your docs are in a roll.

By: Maria Crimi Speth

Hi. I’m Maria Speth with Jayburg and Wilk. My area of practice is intellectual property and internet law.

When a company is launching a new website, what are some of the legal issues it should be aware of?

First of all, you want to make sure that you have terms of use and/or terms of conditions for your website. Basically the rules of the playground so that you’re readers know what they’re allowed to do and what they’re not allowed to do on your website.

Do all websites need terms of use?

I wouldn’t say every website needs a terms of use. But if you have an interactive website where your readers can come onto your website and post things, then you’re definitely going to want terms of use in those circumstances.

Do all websites need a privacy policy?

Yes. All websites should have a privacy policy. First of all, Google gives you some extra points in their algorithms if you have a privacy policy. California actually requires privacy policies for websites. So obviously if you’re on the internet your website is going to be viewed in California. So I would say yes, all websites should have privacy policies.

By: Maria Crimi Speth

Trade Secret

I’m going to answer the question, what is a trade secret? A trade secret is simply anything that is valuable in a business and is kept secret. Even after you file a patent application, the ideas in there are not published. So they actually fall within the trade secret category. It does overlap with some things, but it is valuable and it’s protected by contracts. I’m Wayne Carroll with Inspired Ideas Solutions Law Firm.

By: Wayne Carroll

Hi, my name is Maria Speth and I’m attorney here at Jaburg & Wilk, and my areas of practice are intellectual property and internet law. Website terms of use may or may not be enforceable. There are a few different types of terms of use.

There’s click wrap agreements and browse wrap agreements. A click wrap agreement is the kind of agreement where the user has to actually click I agree on the website to show that they agree to the terms of use. A browse wrap agreement is it’s just there. It’s available, you can see it. You can read through it, but you don’t have to manifest an agreement to it by clicking.

Courts have been pretty clear that a click wrap agreement is enforceable because you have as a user you have agreed to those terms. Browse wrap agreements are usually not enforceable. It depends on how conspicuous they are and where they are on the website, but typically they are much harder to enforce.

So, if you have a website – especially if your website is interactive or is an E-Commerce website – I would highly recommend that you include a click wrap agreement, that actually have your users click I agree to the terms of use. Otherwise it’s likely that the court will find that it’s not enforceable. On the other hand if your website is a static website and you’re not actually either allowing somebody to post on it or allowing somebody to buy from it – then it’s not as important that you have an agreement that they can actually click on. In those cases more of a browse wrap would be acceptable.

By: Maria Speth

Hi, I’m Maria Speth with Jaburg and Wilk. My area of practice is Intellectual Property and Internet Law.

Can a website copy terms of use or a privacy policy from a similar website?

A lot of websites figure they’ll just copy from another website that does a similar type of function or provides a similar service to what they provide. The problem with that is two-fold. Number one, it is actually copyright infringement. It’s not okay to copy somebody else’s terms and conditions and it can be copyright infringement. Number two, it might not really be as suited to your needs as you might think it is. That website might perform a similar function that you perform, but they might not do everything the same way. And you might not want your rules to be exactly like their rules. So I don’t recommend that for both reasons.

What should be included in a website’s terms of use?

In a websites Terms of Use, we want to see things like jurisdiction. If there’s a lawsuit, where will the lawsuit be? You don’t want to get sued in some foreign country or some foreign state. You want to see the rules of what your users can and cannot do on the website. You want to make it really clear to your users whether or not you own what they post on your website or not. You really want to make sure that they understand that they’re responsible for what they do and that you’re not responsible for what they do.

By: Maria Crimi Speth