Harnessing Generative AI: Best Practices For Trade Secret Protection

A trade secret is commonly understood to be a secret formula, such as the recipe to Diet Coke or Chick-fil-A sauce. However, trade secrets encompass a wide variety of intellectual property assets that most companies own, including customer lists, manufacturing processes, and marketing strategies. The Uniform Trade Secrets Act (the UTSA) defines "trade secret" as "information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process that derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use, and is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy."¹ Trade secrets thus encompass many invaluable assets for businesses of all sizes, and adequate protection is paramount.