ADVANTAGES
AND
DISADVANTAGES
OF TRADE
SECRETS
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Trade secrets provide certain benefits and
protections that the other forms of IP do not
For example, when a company files for a
patent, it must disclose some of the
subject matter and details to the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO),
making those elements available to the
public. Anyone or any company can view
those filings and attempt to circumvent
the patented elements.
With the advent and proliferation of the
Internet and globalism over the past few
decades, the ability to circumvent or
reverse-engineer a patent has increased
exponentially.
Another advantage of trade secrets is that
they can be kept in perpetuity, unlike other
forms of IP. From the list below of famous
trade secrets, there are a handful that are
several decades old, and one that has been
around for well over a century.
McDonald’s secret sauce
Coca-Cola formula
Google search algorithm
KFC recipe
Lena Blackburn’s baseball rubbing mud
New York Times bestseller list
WD-40
Listerine formula
Twinkies preservatives
Krispy Kreme doughnuts process
There are some disadvantages to trade
secrets, of course, most in the form of legal
recourse should your trade secret become
public. Until recently, if your trade secret
became public (legally), you did not have an
easy way to regain the secretive nature of
your company’s advantage, determine the
monetary value of the trade secret, or
punish the entity that made your secret
public through legal means.
For a long time, the ability to seek legal
recourse for trade secret misappropriation
had been a relative patchwork of varying
state laws. However, trade secret law has
made a lot of progress on this front,
culminating in the 2016 Defend Trade
Secrets Act (DTSA) that sought to provide
companies with the ability to file civil
lawsuits in federal court under the
Economic Espionage Act (EEA), greatly
strengthening trade secret protection into
the new millennium.
For Trade Secret Valuation Services:
Address
7514 Girard Avenue, Suite 1500
La Jolla, CA 92037
Phone No.
800.454.9091
Website
www.consor.com