CLANCY PC - IP LAW
  • Home
  • About
  • PAULA's BIO
  • Contact
  • IP Blog

@CanadianIP News


Follow us on Twitter @CanadianIP
Follow us on LinkedIn @ClancyPC
Follow us on Facebook @ClancypcIP
Follow us on Instagram @ClancyPClaw

It’s A Secret: Intellectual Property Protection of Confidential Information

24/9/2021

1 Comment

 
By Alison Wong
Picture
Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash
​Information is a crucial business asset. To cite a common example, the formula for the carbonated soft drink Coca-Cola™ is a well-guarded industry secret. This secrecy creates a monopoly over production and sale of the drink, which generates billions of dollars of revenue for Coca-Cola’s parent company each year. If the recipe for Coca-Cola™ became public knowledge, or fell into the hands of a competitor, the company would likely lose enormous sums of money because everyone would know how to make their own, identical version of the drink. In short, the commercial value of the information would be lost.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) defines “trade secrets” as “any business information that has commercial value derived from its secrecy.” To qualify as a trade secret, the World Intellectual Property Office notes the following criteria, in that the information must be “commercially valuable because it is secret; be known only to a limited group of persons; and be subject to reasonable steps taken by the rightful holder of the information to keep it secret.” Encryption of valuable information and requiring business partners and employees of a company to sign non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements would constitute examples of “reasonable steps” to ensure secrecy of information.

Unlike patent and copyright which are protected by federal statutes, there is no equivalent statue in Canada for trade secrets. Instead, the law of trade secrets is governed by common law principles and is enforced through tort claims such as breach of confidence or breach of fiduciary duty. In deciding whether information is a trade secret and in determining compensation for misuse of a trade secret, CIPO notes that courts consider the following factors:
  • Measures taken to maintain secrecy
  • Value of the information
  • Money and time spent to create or develop the information
  • Ease of independent development or acquisition of the information by others
  • Degree to which the owner views and treats the information as confidential
  • Whether the recipient should have known that the information was confidential
  • Detriment to the owner
However, it is impossible to regain the commercial value of a trade secret once the confidence protecting it has been breached. In our digital world, those responsible for protecting trade secrets should thus ensure that they use all methods possible to maintain the secrecy of these intangible assets.
​
To learn more about trade secrets, please refer to the following sources:
https://www.wipo.int/tradesecrets/en/
https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/wr03987.html
 

1 Comment
Radio advertising agency in Chennai link
9/12/2021 01:05:37 am

Eumaxindia specializing in Radio Advertising like suryan fm,redfm,big92.7fm,radio city,hello106.4fm.we are provides all types of online radio advertising.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    May 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    July 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014

    Categories

    All
    Appointments
    Awards
    Brexit
    EUTMs
    Paula Clancy
    Trademarks
    UKIPO
    WTR 1000

Clancy PC

28 Deakin Street, Suite 201
Ottawa Ontario K2E 8B7
​Canada
pclancy@clancypc.com
Review us on Google
© Clancy PC, 2020
  • Home
  • About
  • PAULA's BIO
  • Contact
  • IP Blog