Unlike patents or copyright, trade secrets rely on secrecy for
both their value and their legal protection. Every company holds
information it wants to keep confidential in order to maintain an
edge over competitors. Whether that information is technical (for
example, a manufacturing formula or process), commercial (such as
balance sheets or customer and client lists), or strategic
knowledge (for example, a recipe, a chemical compound, a marketing
study, pricing information, or details relating to the launch of
new products), if it is commercially valuable, companies should
ensure it is kept secret — particularly from competitors.
But how can this be achieved when employees need access to that
information in order to perform their roles? You do not need to go
as far as Benjamin Franklin and adopt the mantra that "three
may keep a secret, if two of them are dead." At the same time,
this is not a free-for-all in which employers can prevent people
from changing jobs
