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3 February 2025 · Articles, Brand, Confidential Information, Information Security, Trade secrets

Trade Secrets aren’t Bullet Proof but they are Very Good

Guilty South Korean company, Kolon admitted conspiring with two former DuPont employees between 2006 and 2009 to get access to information about how DuPont makes its Kevlar fibres. Punishment Kolon was fined $920m18-month jail sentences handed down to the former DuPont employees!Kolon was banned from manufacturing or marketing its Kevlar competing Heracron fibre for 20 […]

31 January 2025 · Articles, Contracts, Strategy, Trade Mark, Trademark

Does Your Trademark Strategy Mind the Gap?

Transport for London just lost the first round in a fight with Gap Inc. over a recent trademark application that included sunglasses, bags, wallets and umbrellas! Anyone who has travelled on the London Underground will be familiar with the ‘Mind The Gap’ announcement and floor statements, asking you take care when stepping on and off […]

30 January 2025 · Confidential Information, Domain Name, Information Security, Strategy, Trade Mark, Trademark

How your people lost a $billion asset

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮 $𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁 People are your biggest strength and your biggest weakness. How can you let a $billion domain name lapse? In 2015 Google.com was bought for $12. In 2021 google.com.ar was bought for $2. These domain names are used to run billion-dollar businesses so how can these assets be ‘mistakenly […]

29 January 2025 · AI, Confidential Information, Information Security, Strategy, Trade secrets

Is your best asset also your weakest link?

Is Your Best Asset Also Your Weakest Link? We are living through the biggest transfer of corporate wealth in history. Information. Information is your most valuable asset, and your people are the guardians of that asset. Loss of sensitive information including trade secrets can destroy your business’s competitive edge and future revenue. Competitors can […]

28 January 2025 · Articles, Brand, Strategy

How to Better Represent Your Brand

The Lights are On, but No One is Home! The Aga saga. Aga stores are closing around Britian, is this because the English love affair with this venerable cooker is over or just it just need a re-brand? Aga vacated its City of London, Liverpool Street store leaving the brand proudly on display on an […]

28 January 2025 · AI, Articles, Creativity, Innovation, Knowledge

Deep Seeking is the Mother of Innovation

A start up spends a fraction of the big 4 tech giants and beats them at their own game. Stock markets plummet as investors realise the tech giants are not invincible! They say necessity is the mother of innovation and creativity, and a Chinese start up 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲. We have been […]

24 January 2025 · Brand, Counterfeit, Cyber Security, Information Security, Trade Mark, Trademark

You’re Authentic? Really? Why No Registered Trademark?

Can you be authentic without a registered trademark? Not with Google, or Outlook, or Outlook, or Microsoft, or Amazon, or MailChimp……….etc. The blue tick (or check mark) is being applied beyond social media, as proof of authenticity, but to get the blue tick you need to have a trademark registered with the an approved intellectual […]

24 January 2025 · AI, Articles, Cyber Security, Information Security, Trade secrets

AI Will Release Your Trade Secrets Like A Flood

AI will take your data and make sense of it, even before you have – ‘Minority Report’ vibes here! A good investment analyst a few years back was trying to do the same thing, drawing inference from unstructured data, a bit like ‘the CEO of one company seen visiting the lawyers of a competitor company’ […]

23 January 2025 · Articles, Innovation, Trade secrets

Nintendo Launch is a Yawn. Trade Secrets Leaked.

‘Switched’! Careful release of selected information before your launch builds intrigue, but too much makes for a flop. Nintendo Switch 2 users have waited years for a proper upgrade, then when it arrived it’s like ‘so what’! Controlling trade secrets in your supply chain is key. Apparently, suppliers revealed the design such that 3D printed […]

21 January 2025 · Articles

Accountants Are Not Accounting for Your IP, But Investors Are.

There is no place in the accounts of any startup, where you can find the value of its intangible assets and intellectual property, that have been created by the business. There is no place in the accounts of any company, where you can find the value of its intangible assets and intellectual property, that have […]

19 January 2025 · Articles, Information Security, Knowledge Transfer, NDA, Partnerships, Trade secrets

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗗𝗼?

𝗟𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗽𝘀, 𝗕𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀, 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘀. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁! ‘We are in a partnership so it will be good’. ‘We have an NDA so we can tell them everything’. ‘Working in cafes in Scandinavia it is fine you can go […]

19 December 2024 · Articles

Here’s my 2024 LinkedIn Rewind

𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗜𝗣 𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗧 WHY? • $605M awarded for stolen renewable fuels algorithm • $452M damages for medical device trade secrets theft • $72M Boeing case showed why documenting matters • Non-compete agreements being banned globally • AI making information more vulnerable than ever THE REALITY: Most businesses don’t know […]