Trade Secrets — AffirmativDefensens— - Lawful Means of Acquisition is a legal defense used to protect trade secrets from illegal acquisition. A trade secret is a type of confidential business information that has economic value and is not generally known to the public. Trade secrets are valuable intellectual property that must be kept secure to maintain their value. The affirmative defense of lawful means of acquisition is an argument used to protect trade secrets from improper acquisition. This defense is used when an accused party can show that they acquired the trade secrets from a lawful source, such as a publicly available document, a confidential disclosure from an employee, or a properly licensed agreement. There are three main types of lawful means of acquisition for trade secrets: 1. Reverse engineering: Reverse engineering is a process of taking apart a product to learn how it works and using that knowledge to create a similar product. This method is considered lawful as long as the starting material is lawfully obtained. 2. Independent development: Independent development is when a person or company independently creates a product without using any protected information. This method is considered lawful as long as the person or company did not use any confidential information to develop the product. 3. Properly licensed agreement: A properly licensed agreement is when a person or company is legally granted access to confidential information through a written agreement. This agreement must be properly executed and the confidential information must be clearly identified in the agreement.