What do courts consider in determining if a trade secret exists?
Courts usually consider the following three factors in determining whether you have a trade secret: (1) Is the information deemed to be a “trade secret” valuable to the business? Only secret information can be protected by trade secret law. Secrecy is typically determined by evaluating whether or not the information is “generally known” or “readily ascertainable.” If the information is secret, you must consider whether the secret information is valuable to your business. How would you rank its value? Courts tend to find that the information is a trade secret if the information is so valuable as to significantly impact the operations of a business. (2) What steps have been taken to keep the information secret? Trade secret laws require that you have taken some action to keep your information a secret. The security procedure taken to protect the information is often the most important evidence that the information constitutes a trade secret. For example, courts have often found that rest
