Introduction:

Trade secret is one of the intellectual properties in relation to business which is protected
through statutory laws. A trade secret is any information that can be used in the operation of a
business or other enterprises and that is sufficiently valuable to afford actual or potential
economic advantages over others. But this advantage can create some anarchy in business
competition and fluctuate the market. Also, keeping most of the information of trade
undisclosed can deprive the mass people from having more facilities. I will briefly discuss all
the issues related to this topic in my paper.

Meaning of trade secret:

According to World Intellectual property Organization (WIPO), A trade secret in information

of any type that is actually or potentially valuable to its owner and not generally known or
readily ascertainable by the public. A trade secret generally has some cost associated with its
development and is not common knowledge in the industry. This confidential information has
some business value and owner usually make reasonable efforts to keep them secret. Trade
secret may include design, drawings, and blueprints, algorithms of software and computer,
instructional method, know how, business plans etc. In Hi-tech systems & services Ltd. V
Suprobhat Ray, the court observed that a trade secret or a business secret may relate to
financial agreement , the customer list of secret trader , business information such as cost and
pricing , projected capital investment, strategies may qualify as trade secret.

Advantages of trade secret:

Trade secret has a huge number of advantages. One of the main advantages of trade secret
law is that it provides indefinite future protection. Unlike the 20-year time limit that underlies
the protection granted to a patent holder, there is no definite time limit placed on the
protection granted to a trade secret owner. This indefinite future protection granted to trade
secrets is appealing, assuming that the intellectual property to be protected is likely to remain
generally unknown well into the future.

Acquiring trade secret security is ordinarily faster and not as costly. Other rights like patents
are more costly that trade secret.

Disadvantages of trade secret:

Trade secret is tool for the owner to gain benefit from his good and advantages over the
competitor. But keeping these information confidential, trade secret creates some dis
advantage in business sector. Trade secret law provides indefinite future protection, so as
long as the trade secret stays a secret. Trade secret protection has no expiration date.
Although there is no indefinite expiration of the protection granted to trade secret the
protection prohibits only the disclosure or use of the trade secret by one to whom the secret
was disclosed in confidence. Unlike patent law, trade secret law does not offer any
affirmative protection against the use of the same intellectual property that is independent
derived or reversed engineered by a competitor. Consequently if the intellectual property to
be protected is a new method of manufacturing product and if the method of manufacture is
ascertainable from an examination of the product the best form of protection for intellectual
property is most likely that offer by patent law.

The same analysis applies to intellectual property that is likely to be independently derived by
a competitor. For as the U.S. Supreme Court noted in Bonito Boats v. Thunder Craft Boats ,ii
state trade secret law has never given the holder of a trade secret protection against reverse
engineering by the public or a competitor.

Another problem of trade secret law is the unfair competition in the market. Trade secret
gives the owner absolute right to use the information in managing his business. It generally
gives the owner a huge advantage over his other competitor and if the trade secret of a
particular good in known only by one person, it will create a monopoly in the market. The
price of the product will be higher and thus lack of disclosure of trade secret will fluctuate the
whole market. It is usually seen particularly in medicinal products. Pharmaceutical
companies invent and produce new medicine, they keep all the confidential information of
the product expects know how. Other companies may produce the same product by using
know how but it might not be the same quality as the earlier. Thus the initial trademark
holder can control the market of a product and take unfair advantage over other.

However keeping the trade secret as confidential is also a hard task to do. People working in
corporations may be a challenge to the security of a company's intellectual property. While
intellectual property security remedies and defensive measures can be placed in place,
employee loyalty cannot be undermined and remains the greatest obstacle that companies
have to face in order to protect their IPs. Some businesses often make attempts to snatch
workers from their rivals unscrupulously in order to access their creative abilities and their
knowledge of their competitors' secrets of performance.

Recommendation:

1. Most of the confidential information should be disclosed publicly in a manner that it does
not directly hamper the subject matter of production of a product.

2. The disclosed information should be used for public benefit and the primary owner of trade
product should get minimal benefit out of it.

3. Creating monopoly in the market by using confidential information should be regulated

and prevented by trade law authority.