There are many ways to protect your intellectual property (IP), and it’s important to know which option works best for your specific situation. Some forms of IP protection, like copyrights, trademarks, and patents, offer you strong legal rights, but all of them come with an expiration date. 

This means they’ll eventually run out or need to be renewed. But what if you want a way to protect your IP forever, as long as you can keep it confidential? That’s where trade secrets come in.

A trade secret doesn’t expire as long as you can keep it secret. That’s a major benefit if you have the right type of IP to protect. However, not all intellectual properties qualify as one. If you use IP protection for something that doesn’t fit the criteria, you might be left with no protection at all. 

If you’re unsure whether your IP qualifies for trade secret protection, the trade secrets lawyers at Emerson Thomson Bennett can guide you through the process. Our attorneys will help you understand how to protect your intellectual property using trade secrets and possible alternatives.

What Are Trade Secrets?

Trade secrets are intellectual property that give your business an advantage over competitors. To qualify as a trade secret, the information must be something your competitors would benefit from if they had access to it. It’s not always about a physical object, like a product or device. Sometimes, it’s about knowledge—like how you create a product, perform a service, or run your operations.

Some common examples of trade secrets include:

1. Formulas

A formula is a recipe or list of ingredients that create a product or drive a process. It could be something like a cleaning solution, a food recipe, or even a mathematical formula. One of the most famous examples is Coca-Cola’s recipe, which has been kept a secret for over a century. 

As long as Coca-Cola keeps its formula confidential, it remains a trade secret. A lesser-known example is the Pythagorean theorem. When it was first discovered, it could have been treated as a trade secret because it was valuable knowledge that others didn’t have access to.

If your business relies on a special formula that gives you a competitive edge, you might want to consider trade secret protection. Our IP protection lawyers can help you make sure you take the right steps to protect your formula and ensure no one else can use it without your permission.

2. Processes

A process is a series of steps or actions that lead to a product or service. For example, Henry Ford revolutionized the car industry with the assembly line process. He could have kept it as a trade secret, but he chose to patent it instead. Patenting it allowed him to license it out to other companies, generating revenue until the patent expired.

If you have a unique process that helps you provide a service or manufacture a product more efficiently, it could be worth protecting as a trade secret. Our trade secret lawyer can evaluate whether keeping it confidential makes sense for your business, or if another form of IP protection is more suitable.

3. Designs, Devices, and Instruments

Sometimes, the design of a product or a tool you use to create a product can be a trade secret. For example, certain tools or devices in manufacturing that are custom-made and give you a unique advantage could qualify. 

But you have to be careful here—if you disclose too much about the design or file for a patent, your secret becomes public. Once a patent is filed, the details of your invention are published, and anyone can access that information once the patent expires.

Choosing to protect a design or device as a trade secret instead of through a patent is a strategic decision. Our trade secret lawyer can help you weigh the pros and cons of each approach based on your specific situation.

4. Compilation of Information

In some cases, your competitive edge might not come from a single secret but from a combination of things. This could be a combination of data, designs, formulas, and processes that together give your business an advantage. 

A good example of this is a customer database that includes not just names and addresses but detailed purchase history, preferences, and other personalized data that help you make better business decisions.

If you have a system or compilation of information that drives your business forward, this may qualify for trade secret protection. But, as with other forms of IP protection, the information must remain confidential to stay protected. 

How to Keep Trade Secrets Safe

The key to protecting a trade secret is confidentiality. You don’t need to file anything with the government to have a trade secret. In fact, doing so could harm your ability to keep it protected. However, trade secrets don’t protect themselves. You must take specific actions to ensure that they stay confidential.

Some steps you can take include:

  • Limit access to the trade secret. Only people who need to know it should have access.
  • Use nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) to legally prohibit your employees and contractors from disclosing the information to the wrong parties.
  • Secure physical and digital locations where the trade secret is stored, such as safes, encryption, or restricted areas.

Alternatives to Trade Secret Protection

While trade secrets offer the advantage of lasting indefinitely, they aren’t the only way to protect your IP. In fact, many businesses choose to combine them with other forms of IP protection, such as patents, trademarks, or copyrights. 

However, this approach comes with risks. For example, once you file for a patent, the details of your invention are made public. This means that after the patent expires, anyone can use your invention. 

Similarly, trademarks and copyrights require registration with the government, which creates a public record that can be accessed by anyone. Once information is public, it can no longer qualify as a trade secret.

Our IP protection lawyer can help you determine whether combining different types of legal protection makes sense for your business and what steps you need to take to maintain confidentiality.

Talk to an IP Protection Lawyer Today

Picking the right form of IP protection is crucial for the long-term success of your business. Trade secrets offer a unique advantage because they can last forever—if you can keep them confidential. But they’re not suitable for every type of IP. If you try to protect something that doesn’t qualify as a trade secret, you could end up with no protection at all.

However, our seasoned IP protection lawyer can help you figure things out. At Emerson Thomson Bennett, our trade secrets lawyers have extensive experience helping businesses protect their intellectual property. Whether you’re looking to secure a formula, process, design, or compilation of information, we can help. 

Contact us today to protect your intellectual property.

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PRACTICE AREAS WE CAN HELP WITH

We provide complete intellectual property representation to business owners, inventors and artists in all matters related to the establishment and protection of domestic and international patents, trademarks and copyrights. Attorneys at our firm also serve as in-house IP counsel for companies whose needs do not call for a full-time internal position.

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