A trade secret is any form of confidential information that gives a business a competitive advantage. A secret recipe, method, process, formula or similar all have the potential to be classed as a trade secret.
In Australia, trade secrets cannot be registered with an IP office in the way a patent or trademark can. As a result, they can be difficult to protect.
Trade secrets can be in the form of proprietary confidential information, or in the form of ‘know how’. ‘Know how’ is information that may be publicly available, but which has been assimilated together in a way that may add value and which assimilation is not available publicly.
Famous Examples Of Trade Secrets
The most recognisable examples of trade secrets would have to be Kentucky Fried Chicken’s (KFC) secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices or Coca-Cola’s secret formula.
Both of these are highly guarded secrets that have yet to be successfully replicated.
By ensuring these trade secrets remain a secret, both the Coca-Cola Company and KFC have retained a valuable financial edge over their competitors for a long time.
Another example of a trade secret is the Google search process.
Trade secrets are a way of retaining an advantage over competitors, but are not that valuable where the trade secrets can be easily reverse engineered.
Protection of a trade secret is by virtue of its confidentiality. Most often, protection is sought through non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements. If a trade secret is stolen from a business, then there may be a legal cause of action against the person who stole it.
However if you want a court to enforce the protection or confidentiality of a trade secret and grant an injunction against the other party using it, then you need to have treated it as a trade secret by:
In some instances, depending on the type of trade secret in question, you may be able to pursue a patent. Due to the strict criteria required to qualify for a patent, it is best to discuss this with a patent attorney.
Patent attorneys are experts in all forms of IP and are best placed to either guide you to an approved patent application or prepare a binding NDA for optimal protection.
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I would like to express my thanks to Barry and his team at IP Guardian in Sydney for their assistance with our recent Trademark application. Barry was highly professional, readily available throughout the process and clearly communicated expectations. Barry even helped us refine our application so that we had a greater chance of success which was very much appreciated to avoid extra costs. I would highly recommend Ip Guardian for all your Trademark and Intellectual Property needs.
Barry, last week, you and your professional team, made my year (or probably my next 21 years). So thank you so much for your executive, calm yet very effective actions under extream pressure. Elias Hajjar, Director, TROLLEYON PTY LTD
Informative, understood the business, what it needed and answered questions in a friendly and approachable manner. Easy decision to continue working with IPGuardian for future trademarking
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The team at IP Guardian have made the process extremely straight forward and easy for us to understand exactly what was required. I will highly recommend to our clients who need help with IP.
I have dealt with Barry over the years, his advice and experience has helped me greatly. Looking for to working with him and his team again. Maher.
IP Guardian helps protect words, symbols, letters, numbers, names, signatures, phrases, sounds, shapes and smells. Yes, I said smells.
We've had the pleasure to work closely with Barry for many years. He has been exceptional to deal with and has a keen focus in providing a commercial led IP "go to market" strategy for start-ups and well known brands. Makes it easy and always advises on different ways to navigate through the IP process.
Barry Meskin @ IP Guardian is an experienced and extremely knowledgeable expert in the domain of intellectual property, patents and trademarks. In addition he has been extremely responsive and very professional in all our dealings. I wholeheartedly recommend Barry's services to any business or anyone seeking advice in this area - great quality and great value.
