Bryan Walters

Multi-million dollar jury verdicts seemingly make the news on almost a daily basis. Whether it is a class action lawsuit against a tobacco or pharmaceutical company or someone spilling hot coffee in their lap, for better or for worse, large jury verdicts seem to be part of our culture.

This is not a column about Anthony Weiner. Some things you just cannot keep secret. Rather, what follows concerns the intangible assets that are the lifeblood of most businesses: customer lists, pricing information, customer logs and any other information your competitors could use to unfairly compete for your customers.

As President Obama announces desired appointments to federal judicial positions such as the U.S. Supreme Court and federal appellate benches, a common question asked about litigation is whether it should be filed in state or federal court.

What are your company's most important assets? For many businesses, they are customer lists, pricing information, quotation logs — any information that a competitor could use to unfairly compete for your customers.