• A formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors or customers.

• Manufacturing, industrial, and commercial secrets

• Names and addresses of scientists
• Composition of formulas
• Analytical methods

• AKA  “confidential information” or “classified information”

• Any confidential business information which provides an enterprise a competitive edge may be considered a trade secret.

• Trade secret protection has no definite term.

• It may last as long as the company can keep the context of the trade secret from becoming public knowledge. Accordingly, a company’s confidential information can remain perpetually protected, so long as it remains secret.

• Coca Cola has kept the formula of its base syrup flavouring a secret for over 100 years.

• Polaroid has kept its instant film chemical formula out of public knowledge for decades.

• There is no direct cost for obtaining protection for trade secrets. However, the costs of maintaining a trade secret (developing⁄ entering⁄ enforcing confidentiality agreements, taking reasonable steps to prevent other companies from learning about the secret, etc.) can be great.

• Trade secrets are not protectable from independent discovery or invention, such as reverse engineering. Thus, once the public or a competitor is aware of how to make a product or ascertains the nature and identity of the trade secret, protection is not enforceable.
• Disclosure can occur by:

• publication by the owner, an employee, or someone else
• selling a commercial product that embodies the secret
• inadvertent disclosure by accident or mistake.

• The unauthorised use of trade secret information by persons other than the holder is regarded as unfair practice, industrial or commercial espionage, breach of contract and breach of confidence.

• Pioneer Hi-Bred International vs. Holden Foundation Seeds

• Pioneer claimed that Holden had developed a seed from misappropriated seed, which it claimed were its trade secrets.

• Holden disputed the genetic similarity between its seed and Pioneer’s H3H⁄H43SZ7.

• Three series of tests: electrophoresis, reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography and growouts. 

• Holden argued that the Federal PVPA pre-empted state trade secret law as applied to sexually reproducing plants.

• However, the Appeal Court was not persuaded by the argument and it noted that the Supreme Court has expressly held that trade secret and patent protection can ‘peacefully coexist’.