Protecting Trade Secrets In India: Applicable Laws And Benefits

Trade secret law safeguards technological and commercial information that is not commonly recognized in the trade and prevents others from commercially exploiting it without authorization. The purpose of trade secrets protection is to promote research and development by protecting the source of business information and to uphold proper business ethics. A trade secret, or confidential information in the trade, must contain secret information that no one else knows about, it must have commercial value, and reasonable measures must be taken to safeguard the secret. A formula, pattern, compilation programme device, method, or technique that derives independent economic value from not being known can be recognised as a trade secret. Hence, trade secrets can be understood as Intellectual Property rights on confidential information which may be sold or licensed¹.