News: Taft featured on the big screen in "Dark Waters" starring Mark Ruffalo,
Tim Robbins, & Anne Hathaway about Taft's 20-year fight against DuPont
Dec 2022: Taft expands to 800+ attorneys with Detroit merger
Jan 2023: New Copyright Claims Board Creates “Small Claims” Alternative to Litigation (Jan 2023)
Sept 2022: Taft Recognized as Top 10 Trademark Law Firm
Aug 2022: Bass again named among Best Lawyers in America™
-Bass is ranked in top 5% of private practice attorneys nationwide by 2023 Best Lawyers™ along with 243 Taft attorneys.
Trade Secrets:
Copyright, patent, and trademark law do not protect every type of IP asset. Other assets may be protected under trade secret law or via non-disclosure agreement and non-compete agreements. Under the traditional state law definition, to be a trade secret, the information at issue must derive independent economic value “from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable through proper means by, the public.” However, in 2016, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”) into law, thereby creating, for the first time, a federal system of trade secrets law. The DTSA removes “the public” as the relevant body of individuals and replaces it with “another person who can obtain economic value from the disclosure or use of the information.” In this way, the DTSA puts a sharper point on the standard for establishing a trade secret’s economic value.
The DTSA provides a comprehensive definition of “misappropriation” that was not included in the original EEA. Under the DTSA, “misappropriation” is the acquisition, disclosure or use of a trade secret of another, without consent, by a person who knows or has reason to know that the trade secret was acquired by improper means or mistake or under circumstances giving rise to a duty to maintain the secrecy of the trade secret.
We can provide assistance with:
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Drafting and reviewing non-disclosure and non-compete agreements
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Counseling on ways to protect trade secrets
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litigation (enforcement or defense) of trade secret claims
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litigation (enforcement or defense) of non-disclosure or non-compete agreement claims

Celebrating
25 Years
In Practice 1998--2023
Leon D. Bass / Of Counsel*
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
P: 614-431-2277 (call/text)
65 E. State St. Ste. 1000
Columbus, OH 43215
Kathy Cox
Legal Assistant to Leon Bass
P: 614.220.0228
*Leon Bass is licensed as an attorney to practice law in Ohio and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Brown, Blaique J.
Kathy Cox