Trade Secrets: Protection And Employee Risk

What do Coca-Cola, WD-40, and Chanel No 5 have in common? The answer is simple. They are all protected trade secrets as no one but the manufacturers have the recipe.

Trade secrets are protected under EU Directive 2016/943 as long as they fulfill three cumulative requirements:

• The secret is known only to a small group of people;
• The secret has commercial value because it is secret; and
• Reasonable steps have been taken to keep it secret.

Trade secrets cover information that is not generally known outside of your company. They can protect your know-how and give you a competitive edge.

It's also interesting to note that even 'failed' attempts can qualify as know-how. This is because knowing which things or processes don't work can be of probative value, particularly as this knowledge could very well save your competitors significant time and resources.