Preserving the Crown Jewels: Practical Strategies for Protecting Source Code in Patent Litigation Discovery

In today's Internet age, the most valuable asset belonging to many of the world's most successful organizations is "source code" &mdash; the programming underlying all software operating systems, databases, and applications. As a result, keeping source code from leaking to the public is of paramount concern, especially in light of the fact that source code published over the Internet can proliferate at an exponential pace with little more than a series of mouse clicks. If confidential code is released into the public domain, even inadvertently, it risks losing any trade secret protection it once enjoyed. <i>See, e.g., Linkco, Inc. v. Fujitsu Ltd.,</i> 230 F. Supp. 2d 492, 498-99 (S.D.N.Y. 2002). In short, once the "genie" is out of the bottle, it cannot be put back in.

9 minute read August 09, 2004 at 11:50 AM

By

Douglas E. Lumish And Matthew M. Sarboraria