Benefits of and Best Practices for Protecting Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Inventions as Trade Secrets

What qualifies as a “trade secret” can be extraordinarily broad, depending on the relevant jurisdiction, as, generally speaking, a trade secret is information that is kept confidential and derives value from being kept confidential. This can potentially include anything from customer lists to algorithms. In order to remain a trade secret, however, the owner of the information must follow specific business practices to ensure the information remains secret. If businesses do not follow the proscribed practices, then the ability to protect the trade secret is waived and its associated value is irretrievably lost. The business practices required are not onerous or complex, and we will discuss these below, but many businesses are unaware of what is required for their specific type of IP and only discover their error when attempting to monetize their inventions or sell their business. To avoid this devastating outcome, we work to arm our clients with the requisite practices and procedures tailored to their specific inventions and relevant markets.

In the context of AI/ML platforms, trade secrets can include the structure of the AI/ML model, formulas used in the model, proprietary training data, a particular method of using the AI/ML model, any output calculated by the AI/ML model that is subsequently converted into an end product for a customer, and similar aspects of the platform.  There are myriad ways in which the value of the trade secret may be compromised.

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