Trade secrets encompass both technical information, such as information concerning manufacturing processes, pharmaceutical test data, designs and drawings of computer programs, and commercial information, such as distribution methods, list of suppliers and clients, and advertising strategies.
To enjoy trade secret protection, the above mentioned three criteria (i.e., secrecy, commercial value because of the secrecy, and reasonable steps taken by trade secret holders to maintain secrecy) must be complied with (see section 2.1 for the criteria to be met).
A trade secret is proprietary or business-related information that a company or individual uses and has exclusive rights to.
Traditionally, trade secrets were governed by state common law, however, now almost every state has adopted the 1985 UTSA (only New-York has not adopted the UTSA in any form). Many states adopted the law verbatim, while others adopted it but made changes where necessary.
Maintaining secrecy of the information, in the context of trade secrets, implies at least minimal novelty. Information cannot qualify for trade secret protection if it is generally known to others in the same field.
Trade secrets last as long as the secret can be kept. Unlike patents, which typically have a shelf life of twenty years, trade secrets last indefinitely. If the secret is leaked or disclosed to an unauthorized party, the trade secret would likely no longer qualify as a secret.
Trade secrets are secret practices and processes that give a company a competitive advantage over its competitors. Trade secrets may differ across jurisdictions but have three common traits: not being public, offering some economic benefit, and being actively protected.
A typical day trading profit per day is between 0.033 and 0.13 percent. This corresponds to a monthly profit of between 1 and 10 percent for successful day traders. However, only a few traders are successful in the long term - most make losses.
A trade secret is economically valuable information that is not generally known, has value to those who cannot legitimately obtain it, and has been subject to reasonable efforts to keep it secret.
Patents. Patent protection is one of the most powerful types of Intellectual Property protection.
A few examples of improper means of acquiring another's trade secrets include theft, fraud, unauthorized interception of communications, knowing participation in or inducement of a breach of confidence, and other means either wrongful in themselves or wrongful under the particular circumstances of the case.
In general, trade secrets generally pertain and are owned by a company rather than by an individual. As such, trade secret information is typically owned by businesses, even if it was information that was generated by an employee of that business.
One of the most famous trade secrets of all time is KFC's secret recipe “blend of 11 herbs and spices” used on its Kentucky Fried Chicken. For years, people have tried to uncover or replicate this secret recipe without success.
The Disadvantages of Trade Secrets
The main disadvantage of using trade secrets to protect intellectual property is that they are difficult to enforce. Unlike patents, there is no legal mechanism in place to ensure that the secret is kept private and not shared with competitors.
George Soros is perhaps the most renowned trader in the world, famous for “breaking the Bank of England” in 1992. His audacious bet against the British pound earned his fund over $1 billion in a single day.
Swing trading is most suitable for beginners due to this low speed.
You're really probably going to need closer to 4,000 or $5,000 in order to make that $100 a day consistently. And ultimately it's going to be a couple of trades a week where you total $500 a week, so it's going to take a little bit more work.
Use of a trade secret belonging to another does not always constitute misappropriation. There are two basic situations in which obtaining the use of a trade secret is illegal; where it is acquired through improper means, or where it involves a breach of confidence.
COCA-COLA. Coca-Cola made a choice to brand the recipe a trade secret instead of patenting it, which would have lead to the disclosure of the ingredients. Since one of those ingredients may have been cocaine, Coca-Cola decided to keep the recipe as confidential information.
Contrary to patents, trade secrets are protected without registration, that is, trade secrets require no procedural formalities for their protection. A trade secret can be protected for an unlimited period of time, unless it is discovered or legally acquired by others and disclosed to the public.
In order to win a trade secret misappropriation suit in most states, the trade secret owner will need to show that the information at issue qualifies as a trade secret. It must be secret information that confers a competitive advantage and was the subject of reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy.
There is no registration process for trade secrets. Unlike copyrights, trademarks and patents, the person, business, or entity with the trade secret must keep them secret.
There is no protection if the same information is acquired by another through, for example, independent development or reverse engineering by others, or leakage of confidential information because the owner failed to take reasonable steps to keep it secret, or if the secret becomes generally known within the relevant ...