Stites & Harbison has extensive experience in trade secret matters, from developing and implementing protection strategies for both start-up businesses and well-established companies to litigating when disputes arise. The firm defends and prosecutes claims concerning trade secrets and the intellectual property rights of clients, often in connection with claims against departing directors, officers and employees who compete with their former employers. The firm has both sought to enforce and oppose covenants against competition. The group has defended clients in industry-wide "bid rigging," price fixing and Robinson-Patman Act claims as well as dealer and distributor termination claims and has participated in antitrust counseling, litigation and investigations.

Here are a couple of specific examples which illustrate this experience.

• Conforma Clad. The firm has recently assisted Conforma Clad (now part of Kennametal Inc.), a leading provider of severe wear solutions for engineered components, in the development and implementation of a comprehensive trade secret protection program. That program included the identification of trade secret information and the development and enforcement of corporate policies and procedures designed to keep that information confidential and to ensure that it remains protected by trade secret laws. In addition, the firm has actively enforced confidentiality obligations of those individuals who have had access to Conforma Clad's trade secret information, including successfully seeking judicial relief.

• Emerson Electric Co. Stites & Harbison represents Emerson Electric Co., a global powerhouse and one of the world's leading manufacturers, along with two wholly owned companies, Daniel Industries, Inc. and Daniel Measurement Services, Inc., in a case filed in West Virginia. The matter pertains to reciprocal allegations of breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation involving computer technology for the measurement of natural gas flow from remote locations. Stites & Harbison has served as Emerson Electric Co.'s regional counsel for years for the defense of defective product claims.

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