Part 3 Chapter 2

Question 1

What is a trade secret

Answer 1

Intellectual property rights on confidential information which may be sold or licensed

Question 2

Qualifications to be a trade secret

Answer 2

1. Commercially valuable
2. Known to a limited group of persons
3. Subject to reasonable steps taken by the rightful holder of the information to keep it secret, including the use of confidentiality agreements for business partners and employees.

Question 3

Consequences of unauthorized acquisition?

Answer 3

Use or disclosure of such secret information in a manner contrary to honest commercial practice is regarded as an unfair practice and a violation of the trade secret protection.

Question 4

What information can be covered by a trade secret

Answer 4

1. Early stage inventions
2. Manufacturing processes
3. Lists of suppliers and clients
   Information can be protected by trade secrets can be strategic for long-term, like recipes or chemical compounds, or for short periods such as result of a marketing study, a brand name, price and date of launching a new product or the price offered in a bidding procedure.

Question 5

How does trade secret protection work?

Answer 5

You don’t have exclusive rights to it.
However, you are protected against dishonest behavior, for example if someone accesses the documents related to your secret information without your authorization. Also works in cases of non-disclosure agreements.

You are entitled to damages and other remedies, court order can prohibit further disclosure of the trade secret by the person who had acquired, used or disclosed the trade secret unlawfully.