Copyrights and patents and trademarks usually come to mind when thinking about intellectual property. But trade secrets are a critically important and very useful form of intellectual property and are often overlooked. Here are three ways that trade secrets can be more powerful than copyright.
1 – Trade secrets protect ideas and facts (while copyright does not).
Something qualifies as a trade secret if it (1) has economic value because it is secret, and (2) has been the subject of efforts to keep it secret. So a trade secret can be an intangible idea – like the knowledge of how to do something. Or it can be a set of facts, like a list of customers. Copyright wouldn’t protect either of these things – ideas or facts – because copyright covers creative expression. You can’t look to copyright to stop others from using ideas you have or lists of facts you compile. But trade secrets, on the other hand, might cover you.
2 – You don’t have to register trade secrets.
Let me try to clarify one thing really quickly – you don’t have to register copyrights either to own them. But you do have to register that copyright if you need to sue anyone for infringement. With trade secrets, there’s not even any such thing as registration. You have trade secrets from possessing valuable information that you have actually kept secret. That’s it.
3 – Trade secrets can last forever.
Copyright lasts a long time, but trade secrets can last even longer. When an employee of a company creates a copyrighted work, the rights last for 95 years. But there is no expiration date for trade secrets. For as long as a company keeps its valuable trade secret information secret, it’s protected by trade secrets law.
Other ways?
There are other ways trade secrets are more powerful than copyright. Can you think of any? Leave a comment here or take to Twitter (I’m @internetcases there).
See also:
Question of who owns source code proceeds to trial in trade secrets case