Trade secrets provide a business with an opportunity to obtain a
commercial advantage over competitors who do not know or use the
secret. However, the secret must be managed carefully to avoid loss
of rights. Trade secrets do not have to be significant innovations,
just new and unknown, with at least a minimal degree of skill
applied by the secret owner to obtain it. If a new process or
formulation developed for a product is unknown, that is often
sufficient for a trade secret to exist. As an example, the specific
proportion of clam juice, seasonings and tomato juice used in
Clamato beverage was a protectable trade secret.1 This
was the case even though the label listed all the basic ingredients
(though "spices" listed on the label were not specified).
As well, the Clamato brand owners weren't the first to mix
tomato juice and clam broth with spices. This had been disclosed in
a cookbook at least 10 years before Mott's first sold Clamato
beverage in 1966. Since it was a
