We investigate whether strengthened legal protection of trade secrets increases the likelihood of a firm being acquired. Stronger protection can make a firm more attractive for acquisition due to better safeguarding of trade secrets, but it may also increase information asymmetries that...

We investigate whether family ownership is associated with a preference for patents or trade secrets. Using a sample of S&P 500 firms, we show that family ownership is negatively associated with patenting and positively associated with the usage of trade secrets. We further show that both...

The Latin America IP SME Helpdesk offers multilingual services (English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese), with free information and first-line legal advice on IP related subjects, as well as training, webinars and publications, especially designed for EU SMEs.

The Latin America IP SME Helpdesk offers multilingual services (English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese), with free information and first-line legal advice on IP related subjects, as well as training, webinars and publications, especially designed for EU SMEs.

This entry in the online Global Dictionary of Competition Law defines the term trade secret: information that has commercial value to an organization due to its secrecy, is not known outside of the organization, and the continuing secrecy of which the organization has taken reasonable measures...

Trade secrets are valuable intellectual property rights that protect confidential information acquired through purchase or licensing. Their value lies in their confidentiality, known only to a limited group, and the owner must take reasonable measures to maintain secrecy. Trade secrets encompass...

In examining the staggered recognition of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD) as an exogenous shock to trade secret protection, we demonstrate that firms display lower stock returns following the recognition in a difference-in-differences (DID) design. Cross-sectional regression results...

Almost every business owns proprietary information that adds value and provides a competitive advantage because the information is not known to the business's competitors. Trade secret law protects such information from theft or unauthorized disclosure. Because one of the principal policies...

Like other forms of intellectual property (IP), trade secret value may arise from two primary sources. The first is proprietary competitive advantage gained through use of the IP coupled with the right to exclude others from such use. The second is by monetizing IP directly through licensing to...

As the knowledge economy expanded and concerns about trade secret misappropriation mounted in the digital age, federal policymakers undertook efforts to reinforce trade secret protection a decade ago. These efforts came to fruition with passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA)....

1. Book Reference Terms, Definitions and Cases -- 2. Why Business Secrets is or should be a concern for companies? -- 3. Confidential Information as Business Secret -- 4. Business Secrets increase asset value -- 5. Protecting Business Secrets to improve value creation -- 6. Contractual...

This paper studies firms’ information withholding in a mandatory environmental disclosure regime where regulators only allow firms to withhold information regarded as a trade secret. I find evidence of withholding information for reasons other than proprietary-cost concerns, which is...

This article examines whether and to what extent the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) affects technology spillovers between focal firms (i.e., receivers of spillovers) and peers (i.e., senders of spillovers). I find that technology spillovers from peers located in states adopting the UTSA are...

This article examines whether and to what extent the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) affects technology spillovers between focal firms (i.e., receivers of spillovers) and peers (i.e., senders of spillovers). I find that technology spillovers from peers located in states adopting the UTSA are...

The framework for a successful franchise relationship governs procedures, performance, and standards. The franchisor agrees to lend, in effect, its intellectual property and guidance, among other things, in exchange for the franchisee’s royalties and other payments. Before entering into an...

Law-abiding firms often attempt to conceal their corporate political activity (CPA), yet the concealment of CPA has not been matched by our understanding of the phenomenon. We develop a theoretical framework consisting of three components to analyze firms’ strategy of CPA concealment. First,...

Family firms are known for their reluctance to invest in research and development. We show that strengthened trade secret protection is associated with higher R&D investment by family firms. More specifically, we show that the association between the strength of trade secret protection through...

This paper discusses the overlap and interaction between patents and trade secrets in the United Kingdom, with relevant comparisons to United States law. It considers the use of trade secrets protection as an alternative or complement to patent protection

Trade secrets encompass manufacturing or industrial secrets and commercial secrets. The unauthorised use of such information by people other than the holder is regarded as an unfair practice and a violation of the trade secret.

Trade secrets encompass manufacturing or industrial secrets and commercial secrets. The unauthorised use of such information by people other than the holder is regarded as an unfair practice and a violation of the trade secret.

The USMCA, which was signed on November 30, 2018, contains a high-standard and comprehensive IP chapter and the most notable feature of the IP chapter in the USMCA, is that it includes a separate section for trade secrets in which strong standards of protection are set out. The United States is...

This paper considers how vaccine technology to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic can be made available to increase the production of vaccines. Its primary focus is on trade secrets, which are one of the main intellectual property rights protecting the complex manufacturing processes...

The scope of protection in the United States is broad. Under the applicable federal statute, 35 U.S.C. § 1836, et seq. (DTSA) and the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) on which most state statutes are based, any information may be protectable as a trade secret as long as that information (1) is...

Switzerland is a Member State of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which specifically protects undisclosed information (Article 39(2)). Confidential/undisclosed information is protected by a variety of provisions across the Swiss legal...

A trade secret is protectable when it (1) relates to and is capable of application in trade or industry; (2) has the necessary quality of secrecy or confidence, is not in the public domain and is known only to a restricted number of persons; and (3) has economic value to the proprietor (e.g.,...

The law of confidence is capable of encompassing all information that any party has an interest in keeping confidential. While confidential information generally comprises information of a commercial nature (e.g., a company’s internal guidelines and policies), it also includes information of a...