Careers Newsletter
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 
 
 
LEADERSHIP
 
CIO Executive Programs
The Leader in Face-to-Face Education for Senior Executives

Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »

 
CIO Executive Council
A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Mid-Market CIO Panel: Strategies for Improving Vendor Relationships — presentation and summary

Mid-market CIOs and their strategic IT vendors experience a lingering disconnect and often disappointing relations. But there is a growing mutual interest to forge stronger partnerships in preparation for economic recovery. Download the presentation and summary from the July 15 panel call at: http://cioec.com/s/ye3mmr

Mid-Market CIO/IT Vendor Relations Playbook — FREE EXCERPT

This is an excerpt, essentially the first 10 pages, of the 45-page Playbook, which offers experiences from CIOs at over 100 mid-market companies on how CIOs and their IT vendors can build better partnerships.

Secrets of Successful Vendor Contract Negotiations for the Mid-Market

Sept. 16, 2009, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)

On this free public Council teleconference, Matthew A. Karlyn, attorney at Foley & Lardner in Boston, will share tips on negotiating tactics and new, creative contract terms to help mid-market CIOs make better deals.

Executive Competencies Assessment Tool

Assess Your Business Leadership Skills with the Council's new benchmarking tool. Rate yourself in change leadership, strategy, customer focus and more.

More / Register »

Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »



 
 
RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 
 
Q&A
 

How to Avoid Getting Sued by a Former Employer

If you are recruited to work for a business that competes with your current employer, you could find yourself slapped with a big fat lawsuit over intellectual property theft, even if you did nothing wrong. Here's how to prevent that nightmare.

 

November 13, 2008CIO

When the economy goes south, companies get desperate for business. Many resort to layoffs to boost their bottom lines. Some companies, like Fannie Mae, go so far as to cook their books. Yet others opt to steal their competitor's intellectual property to gain a competitive advantage, says Michael Kump, a partner who specializes in intellectual property, antitrust and trade practices law at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert.

"The lifeblood of most businesses is information: customer information, product information. That's why intellectual property is so highly valued," says Kump. "As economic conditions tighten and people start looking for ways to cut corners and gain an advantage, some will cross the line and do so in an illegal manner."

Specifically, says the attorney, companies may try to recruit valued employees from successful competitors in order to obtain insider information.

Such underhanded business practices—both the recruiting to obtain trade secrets and the knee-jerk litigation—pose a threat to IT workers, whose specialized knowledge and skills remain in demand even during this economic downturn. IT professionals need to be careful about taking jobs with competitors because their former employers could try to sue them for "misappropriating trade secrets," even if they did nothing of the sort, says Kump. He expects such litigation to increase as the economic downturn continues.

This is not to say that IT professionals should avoid taking jobs with competitors (unless, of course, they've signed a non-compete agreement with their existing employer). They just need to be aware that the potential exists, and they must take measures to protect themselves.

Kump spoke with CIO.com about the rise in intellectual property litigation and ways employees can avoid it.

CIO: Why do you expect an increase in intellectual property-related litigation?

Michael Kump: The lifeblood of most businesses is information: customer information, product information. That's why intellectual property is so highly valued. Whether you're a dry cleaning business with a customer list or a biotech company in Silicon Valley, the information you have is the lifeblood of what you do.

As economic conditions tighten and people start looking for ways to cut corners and gain an advantage, some will cross the line and do so in an illegal manner. One of the classic shortcuts is to steal competitors' intellectual property. It can be quicker to target key employees at a successful competitor and try to get those employees to come over to your side than to invest in process and grow your business the right way.

 
 
Loading...
 
WHITE PAPERS

Enterprise Performance Management

15 years after "The Performance Measurement Manifesto" was published by the Harvard Business Review, companies continue to redesign how they measure their business performance.
 

Exclusive Economist Intelligence Unit Research

Find out why - and how technology can help balance centralized control and individual autonomy.
 

ERP at the Speed of Light

Without the right strategy and tools, implementation acceleration carries the risk of abbreviated end user training and change management, over-engineering of business processes, and other problems that can lead to higher over-all cost of ownership and the erosion of business benefit.
 

Business Service Management Success

This white paper examines BSM essentials that are often overlooked.
 

Enhance Application Quality

Evaluate application mining tools for your own business case.
 

Provide Successful End-User Experience

This paper details key capabilities needed for successful end-user monitoring.
 

WEBCASTS

Management Excellence: Linking Process, Operations for Agility and Profit

Linking Process, Operations for Agility and Profit
 

Capitalize on Your SAP Content

After 18 years of partnership and over 3,000 successful customer deployments, Open Text has become SAP's premier pa...
 

Increasing Profitability with the Sun Glassfish Portfolio

Sun Glassfish Portfolio
 

Managing Client Systems in the Enterprise

Keeping client systems costs under control is just one of the many initiatives IT must address when trying to manag...
 

IT Consolidation Made Easy

The Primary IT Initiative for Reducing Costs
 

Webcast with Dan Vesset: Investing in Business Analytics Technology

What exactly is business analytics and why should you care? Dan Vesset of IDC and Gaurav Verma of SAS answer this a...
 

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

 
IT Jobs
 
 
 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Disciplined Autonomy: Resolving the Tension Between Flexibility and Control

Think you can't afford a Cisco Switch? Cisco Catalyst Switches are now more affordable.

Enterprise Payment Security 2.0. What you can do to get your company on track.

Improve ROI, lower TCO and reduce energy consumption.

Get Google Enterprise Search for your business information.

Accenture IT Consulting: Enabling high performance. More...

Top Five CIO Challenges

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Accenture IT Consulting: Logical meets technological. More . . .

The Fraudster Economy Model: Operating a Business in the Underground

Payback in 9 months with CA Spectrum solutions

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

Fast, Affordable Answers to Network Uptime

Facilitating a Holistic Virtualization Solution for the Data Center

Web-based Collaboration and the Road to Compliance

Five Key Considerations for Selecting a Data Loss Prevention Solution

Optimize your I&O department for maximum efficiency gains with virtualization.

Examine the benefits and challenges that IT executives are experiencing in their SharePoint environments

Reduce exposure to security risks.

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Revolutionizing Enterprise Application Deployment

Why Data Loss is Increasing--and What You Can Do About It

Data Loss Prevention: A Better Way to Approach Security

Save BIG $$$ Fast. Take Xythos for a spin - FREE test drive Try ECM from Xythos Today.

Trade-In your old printer and save up to $1,000 plus free recycling!

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

Accenture: Outsourcing for Competitive Advantage. More...

Better spam protection with Postini for just $1/user/mo

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

Dangerous Collaboration Practices: 5 Ways IT Can Minimize Risk

Accenture: Outsourcing for uncertain times. Click to learn more.

Keep online transactions fast with CA Wily APM

Get agile IT security with CA Security Management

Trade in your old laser printer and get up to $1000 back!

Red Hat Enterprise Linux: Your Solaris Alternative

Storage Networking: Critical Enabler of Server Virtualization

Server Consolidation: Leveraging the Benefits of Virtualization

Learn best practices for successfully implementing BI technology.

The business case for deploying a data loss prevention solution in your enterprise.

Learn how to better manage virtualization initiatives.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Best Practices

Executive Guide: IT Governance and Risk Management

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Developing A Dynamic, Real-Time IT Infrastructure

Maximizing the Business Value of the PC Infrastructure

Communications and Collaboration Needs at Business Organizations