> I've heard some companies say that they should never put in writing that they're aware of anyone else's IP, to mitigate the risk of treble damages. I've been

> I've heard some companies say that they should never put in writing that they're aware of anyone else's IP, to mitigate the risk of treble damages. I've been instructed by a big company to take all possible notes on my own ideas and experiments, and none at all on what information I found elsewhere. I hear the opposite is true in trading, where to avoid insider trading allegations, you need notes on what publically available information you acted on, even just as "parallel construction" of the trades you were going to make based on insider information. It's really interesting the kind of world you get when legal precedent is the only unstoppable force.