Pharmaceutical Industries
Team B
University of Phoenix
LAW/531 Business Law
Angelique Strong Marks
January 28, 2009
Intellectual property ~ Formulas
Formulas are crucial in the pharmaceutical industry. “Some businesses have a trade secret-chemical formula, procedure, customer list, data or device that only that business has” (Jennings, 2006). For this reason, protection of formulas that are in the classification of intellectual property must be protected to avoid misappropriation from competitors in pharmaceutical industries. With fierce competitors in pharmaceutical industry, trade secrets and data are secured with top of the line intellectual property software systems.
“Misappropriation is conversion of a trade secret, and proof of misappropriation requires that there be some theft, industrial espionage, or bribery as the means used for obtaining the trade secret” (Jennings, p. 645, 2006). Many pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars on software solutions to protect pharmaceutical formulas and trade secrets from data lost due to security breaches. “Leading pharmaceutical companies trust Symantec Data Loss Prevention solutions to reduce their risk of intellectual property loss” (Symantec, 2009). Companies may also require their employees to sign trade secret agreements. With the right monitoring software program and practices in place, trade secrets of formulas and other intellectual property will be protected.
With the growing competition and weak economy, formulas are trade secrets that must be kept safe to avert legal actions that may need to be taken in the event of a breach. Organizations need to have a plan of action in place to protect intellectual property. Not only do they have to protect the right of the corporation’s formulas and data; they have to protect the rights of their customers. For this reason, there are several types of protection that may be used including software security programs, patents, or...