A corporation’s trade secrets are its lifeblood. Indeed, it is through this information that a company generates a profit and maintains its reputation in the industry. A trade secret includes any unique information that carries value. There are both state and federal laws which pertain to trade secrets. Unfortunately, federal laws do not provide strong protections. This has weakened U.S. companies that have fallen victim to international trade secret misappropriation. In response, since April 2014 the U.S. Senate has been considering the Defend Trade Secrets Act to provide stronger national protection for domestic corporations. Nonetheless, companies can take steps to establish internal protections for their trade secrets.
A. Trade Secrets Status
A corporation cannot claim a trade secret if it is publicly known information. Most importantly, it must be information that is not available to competitors. For example, the recipe for Coca Cola is a trade secret. In fact, this recipe is arguably the most expensive trade secret in the world. Coca Cola could not claim its recipe as a trade secret if it was readily available to Pepsi. Any information that a corporation freely provides to customers, trade associations, outside parties, or the general public cannot constitute a trade secret.