Any practise that is not known outside of the organisation and is confidential information just like the Intellectual property rights is known as Trade secret. It can be valuable for the company’s growth. The owner attempts to keep it a secret which is not known to the public. A Company needs to ensure that the confidential information and processes are protected to get economic advantage from their competitors as well.
If the process used to manufacture a product can be discovered simply by looking at the product‚ the process will not qualify for trade secret protection as it is easily ascertainable. In that case‚ the inventor would be advised to seek patent protection.
Anything that offers an advantage to a business and provides value to customers over their competitors is considered a trade secret. Method, recipe, pattern, design etc. are different forms of Trade secret. A company needs to get their employees to sign non-compete or non-disclosure agreements (NDA) to protect to protect its trade secret. Financial, Business, Scientific, etc. are the forms and types of trade secrets defined by the federal law. If the secret is independently discovered, released, or becomes general knowledge and the holder fails to safeguard it, the secret gets removed.
