Noel Courage authored an article “Risk of Electronic Device Search For Patent Attorneys and Inventors Crossing the US-Canada Border with Confidential Information” published in AIPLA

Noel Courage authored an article "Risk of Electronic Device Search For Patent Attorneys and Inventors Crossing the US-Canada Border with Confidential Information", published in the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) on April 20.

This article will discuss the broad powers of search of electronic devices held by US and Canadian border officials. There is a reduced expectation of privacy at border crossings, due to other imperatives such as security, immigration and taxation. These searches create a risk of accessing solicitor-client privileged information. There is also a risk to confidential information on devices, such as technical information or business information. Some of this information could potentially be trade secrets. For confidential information to qualify as a trade secret, the information must be treated as a secret and reasonable efforts must be made to maintain its secrecy. It is generally good practice not to allow important confidential information and trade secrets to be carried around unnecessarily, and this practice is reinforced when one considers the risk of a border search.    

Click here to read full article.

This article was first published by Bereskin & Parr LLP on January 31, 2020.