Botching Trade Secrets Can Run Afoul of Sarbanes-Oxley: U.S. firms, including acquirers, are under legal pressure to improve management and valuation of intellectual property.

American companies, including buyers, have taken their lumps for slipshod management of trade secrets and other valuable intellectual property (IP). But the traditional penalties - reputational black eyes, financial losses, and impaired performances - may be pats on the wrist compared with the legal perils executives and directors court if they continue their cavalier treatment of intellectual assets.

The risks of legal danger surged with enactment of the ubiquitous Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), according to R. Mark Halligan, a Chicago-based lawyer and outspoken champion of stronger IP management. Trade secrets and their IP cousins, e.g., patents, trademarks, logos, licenses, etc., are financial assets, and that puts them clearly …