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As someone who works in the intellectual property field,
you understand better than most the important role
that intellectual property plays for businesses
and the economy as a whole.
Many are familiar with patents, trademarks, and copyrights,
but what about trade secrets?
A trade secret can be anything from a special recipe
to a manufacturing process to a particular technology.
Trade secrets can play a big role
in a business' financial health and competitiveness.
Trade secrets foster innovation
and provide competitive advantages,
but what exactly is a trade secret?
Trade secret law is governed by national legal systems,
but the definitions for trade secret generally
share these three common elements.
First, a trade secret is information that has value
by virtue of not being generally known.
Like a recipe for the best chocolate chip cookie ever made.
Second, the information has value to others
who cannot legitimately obtain the information,
like a business's competitors wanting the exact ingredients
and their measures in that cookie mix.
Third, the information is subject to reasonable efforts
to maintain its secrecy.
The owner of the recipe puts security measures in place
to make sure not just anyone can get their hands on it.
A trade secret can be almost anything,
chemical formulas or food recipes, product designs,
customer and contact lists, pricing schedules,
manufacturing techniques, and marketing strategies,
just for starters.
And while it's easy to understand the importance
of a trade secret, underlying big name brand products
or services, trade secrets come in all sizes
and are important to companies of all sizes.
The failure to identify and protect trade secrets
can result in a loss of competitive advantage,
loss of core business technologies,
and reduced profitability.
In many countries, the importance of trade secrets
is reflected in laws and regulations that protect
against trade secret theft because of the impact it can have
on the economic vitality of businesses.
Patents protect things like new inventions
or innovative methods.
Trademarks protect things like logos and branding.
Trade secret laws protect much of the information
that makes a business or service truly unique.
But in order to gain this protection,
it is the business' responsibility
to identify and secure their own trade secrets.
There's a lot more to learn about trade secrets,
such as governing law,
what it means to misappropriate another's trade secret,
and what to do when a trade secret is stolen.
If you would like to know more about trade secrets,
the USPTO's Office of Policy and International Affairs
offers in-person training programs on various topics
related to trade secrets.
The Global Intellectual Property Academy
will be releasing a series of distance learning modules
devoted to in-depth training on trade secrets.
These distance learning modules will be accessible
to you and your staff so that you can better understand
and use trade secret law
in your intellectual property administration.