How are trade secrets protected?
Contrary to patents, trade secrets are protected without registration, that is, trade secrets are protected without any procedural formalities. Consequently, a trade secret can be protected for an unlimited period of time. For these reasons, the protection of trade secrets may appear to be particularly attractive for SMEs. There are, however, some conditions for the information to be considered a trade secret. Compliance with such conditions may turn out to be more difficult and costly than it would appear at first glance. Some general standards exist which are referred to in Art. 39 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement): The information must be secret (i.e. it is not generally known among, or readily accessible to, circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question). It must have commercial value because it is a secret. It must have been subject to reasonable steps by the rightful holder of the information to keep
