Year: 2017

A “trade secret” is confidential business information that gives its owner a competitive economic advantage over competitors.  Trade secrets are typically formulas, consumer profiles, patterns, programs, methods, techniques, or processes unknown to the public world. In order to meet the basic definition of a trade secret, it must be used and known only to a…

A “joint work” is a work prepared by two or more authors with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole.  See 17 U.S.C. § 101.A collaborative effort is only classified as a joint work if each author made independently copyrightable contributions to the work, and if the…

A copyright is perhaps the greatest legal method of ensuring that you will receive credit for the work you created. A copyright is the legal term used for the rights given to the owner to reproduce, distribute, display, and create adaptations of a protected work. A few types of works that can be protected by…

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits discrimination against applicants and employees for a variety of protected classes including, but not limited to: age, race, sex, gender identity, and marital status (See blog entitled “What is FEHA” for more details). Discrimination in the workplace can fall under the two categories of disparate treatment…