PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of trade secrets, reasonable steps to preserve secrecy, trade secret value, misappropriation methods used to acquire trade secrets, various legal remedies, and internal controls to protect trade secrets.Design/methodology/approachA sample of types of civil trade secret cases is highlighted. The paper includes a statutory and legal case study analysis of the elements in a civil trade secrets lawsuit. Analysis of actual trade secret court cases illustrates the importance of private civil lawsuits in combating intellectual property fraud.FindingsThis paper shows the serious impact of trade secret espionage on the success and survival of businesses and the necessity of proving each element of a civil claim under state trade secret law. Also, practical steps necessary to protect an entity's trade secrets are discussed.Practical implicationsThis paper raises the awareness of executives, managers, internal and external auditors, forensic accountants and other interested parties about the severity of trade secret espionage. Also, this paper highlights numerous steps to protect trade secrets.Originality/valueThis paper fills an identified need to inform those involved in the fight against economic crime about the importance of state trade secret laws and internal controls in the fight against intellectual property fraud.

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span><p style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; text-align: justify; mso-pagination: none;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">This research investigates how community affects consumer marketing and<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </strong>brand equity management. Community is a ubiquitous concept with many definitions in social sciences, ranging from urban neighborhoods and small towns to brand communities. Firms utilize the power of brands to support premium prices, sustain product value in difficult circumstances, and persuade consumers to purchase a brand repeatedly and loyally. Brand scholarship has also ranged widely, from tangible product or service characteristics to the intangible influence of its symbols and meanings on consumers. This study describes how the complicated sets of meanings embedded in the terms community and brand lead to a phenomenon called naturally occurring brands (NOBs). The paper combines the anthropology, sociology and marketing perspectives to describe the NOB phenomenon and explores its validity using survey research.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span>

No abstract

No abstract