Trade Secrets
Because there is no such thing as the filing of a “trade secret application” with the government, trade secret law is the least talked about area of intellectual property law. Yet, unlike patent, trademark or copyright issues, every business has trade secret issues. Generally, a trade secret is a formula, pattern, physical device, idea, process or compilation of information that is treated as a secret by the business and provides the business with a competitive advantage.
For example, your grandma’s famous secret chocolate chip cookies recipe would be a trade secret if she sold the cookies. A trade secret could be as simple as hanging a paperclip on a specific part of your printing machines in order to make the machine produce one additional copy of your newspaper each day. It doesn’t sound like much, and maybe it isn’t, but trade secrets could also be the most valuable aspect of your business. One need only to look to the Coca-Cola Company for an example. The Coca-Cola Company keeps it’s soft drink formula a trade secret. If they were to file for patent protection on the formula, they would have exclusive rights to make, use and sell the soft drink; however, after a period of twenty years from filing the application, the formula would be in the public domain and Coca-Cola would likely go out of business at the hands of numerous smaller companies producing their exact product.
Trade secrets are basically the “catch all” of intellectual property rights which do not fall neatly into patent law, trademark law or copyright law. The holder of a trade secret may have a cause of action against another who improperly uses or shares the information without authorization. For example, if one of your sales people searches through your file cabinet for information which he/she was not intended to have and later uses this information and harms your business, you may have a cause of action under trade secrets law.