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10.06[3] New Case Investigation Checklist GENERALBackground Nature of the industry Company background How this dispute arose Describe goals Discuss investigation Discuss costs/risks IDENTIFY WITNESSES Technical Inside Outside (for use as consultants/experts)Academic Industry Non-technical Management Sales and marketing Human resources IDENTIFY TECHNICAL TRADE SECRETS Definition Define them in plain English Who in the company knows most about them? How are they different from general practice? Identify/secure all documents relating to them Identify other documents/publications that will give context Value What is their value as distinguished from general practice? What alternative means exist to reach the same goal? How much did the company spend to develop its trade secrets? What records exist to prove that? How much would it save the defendants to use these trade secrets? How do other companies solve the problems addressed by the company's secrets? Ready ascertainabilityHow hard would it be to independently discover this information? Does it relate to any patent? Company patents (note: consider best mode issue)Others Can it be reverse engineered? If so, how long would it take? Has a literature search been done?General What proof is there that the defendants possess or have used the information? What will the defendants likely say to prove it isn't a trade secret? IDENTIFY BUSINESS TRADE SECRETS Finance Marketing Customer New products/projects Employee Other ESTABLISH SECRECY Describe the company's information protection plan Has any the trade secret information been revealed outside the company?If so, under what circumstances (get copies of nondisclosure agreements)? Who in the company knows most about the details? IDENTIFY DOCUMENTS AND PHYSICAL EVIDENCE GeneralOrganization chart Company Web site and promotional materials Communications with defendants Generally Exit interviews Files of defendants Working (e.g., work papers, research notebooks, etc.) Personnel AgreementsReviews Technical trade secrets Descriptive material Development evidence Engineering notebooks Drawings/plans Physical examples Evidence of cost of development