• Home
  • About
    • Client Reviews
    • Patent Samples
    • Accolades
    • About Firm
    • Technologies
    • FAQs
  • Services
    • Patents
      • Patent Consultation
      • Patent Search Service
      • Patent Application Service
      • Patent Prosecution
      • Utility Patents
      • Design Patents
      • Patent Defense
      • Patent Enforcement
      • Working with In-House Attorneys
    • Trademarks
      • Trademark Search
      • Trademark Application Services
      • Trademark Prosecution
      • Trademark Enforcement
      • Trademark Defense
    • Licensing
    • Worldwide IP
    • Risk Management
    • Due Diligence
  • Industries
    • Browse Patent Samples
    • Automotive Patents
    • Construction Patents
    • Consumer Products Patents
    • Electronics Patents
    • Food, Beverage, & Other Culinary Patents
    • Manufacturing Patents
    • Medical Products & Devices Patents
    • Optics Patents
    • Software & App Patents
    • Tools & Equipment Patents
  • Learning Resources
    • First-Time Inventor?
    • Why Patent Your Invention in a Bad Economy?
    • Videos on Patents
    • Search 180+ Articles
      • Patent process
        • Overview of Patent Process
          • Patent process timeline and major milestones
          • Patent Process: Invention to Patent Granted (Simplified)
          • Patent process, overall steps and procedures
        • Overview of the examination process within the USPTO
          • Highs and lows of securing patent protection for your invention
          • What is the Patent Office procedure after filing a patent application?
        • Benefits of a Patent Search
          • What is a patent search and How to do it?
        • Patent attorneys, agents and the USPTO can help with the patent process
        • USPTO Website
      • Invention Agreements
        • What is an NDA and when to use them?
        • How to use a contract to protect your invention?
        • Working with others without losing your IP rights
        • Patent Assignments for Independent Contractors
        • Losing Invention Rights When Hiring or Collaborating with Others
        • Avoid Problems: Get an Invention Assignment Agreement
      • Protect Inventions
        • Misconceptions of Provisional Patent Applications
        • Do you need to get your patent attorney to sign an NDA?
        • Can a confidentiality agreement protect me like a patent application?
        • Four types of intellectual property to protect your idea and how to use them
          • Overview of Patents and Intellectual Property
          • Patent protection benefits and why every inventor should consider getting one
          • 8 tips to successfully protect your idea
          • Benefits of Patent Protection
          • Best uses for design patents
        • Reasons to only market your invention after securing patent pendency
          • Dangers of 1 yr grace period under first-inventor-to-file system
          • File a patent application before telling others about the invention
        • Risks and benefits of securing software patent protection
          • Strategy to overcome patentable subject matter rejection
        • Pros and cons of filing a continuation-in-part application
          • What is a continuation patent application?
      • How Patent Applications Work: the Basics
        • How to respond to an office action?
        • Request for non-publication of a patent application
        • Anatomy of a Patent Document
        • How to write a broad patent application?
        • Design patents: pros and cons
      • Patent costs
        • How much does it cost to get a utility patent?
        • Provisional Patent Application: Cheap Alternative?
        • Patent Cost Framework and cash flow
        • Provisional patent application: a cheap option?
        • Cheap provisional patent applications
      • Patent infringement
        • Basics of writing a patent claim for a patent application
        • Patent Marking: Everything you wanted to know
        • Avoiding Patent Infringement
        • Can I Copy My Competitor’s Product?
        • Can I Copy My Competitor’s Product? (Design Patent)
      • Worldwide patents
        • Pros and cons of securing worldwide patent protection and their steps
        • Foreign patent filing to secure protection in other countries
      • Responding to Office Actions
        • Overview of Office Actions
      • Trademarks
        • Trademark Registration: common law, state and federal
        • How to obtain a federal trademark registration?
        • How to select a trademark?
          • Protect your idea when pitching to an investor, potential licensee, or buyer
  • Schedule Consultation
  • Contact

Top-Rated Orange County Patent Lawyer | Helping Inventors in Orange County, Los Angeles County & Beyond | OC Patent Lawyer, Irvine CA

Orange County Patent Attorney

(949) 433-0900
You are here: Home / Trade secret / What is a trade secret?

What is a trade secret?

July 24, 2022 by James Yang

A trade secret is a type of intellectual property.  Trade secret laws protect valuable confidential information from theft by others.  You don’t have to register your information for it to be your trade secret.  Rather, all you need to do is to take reasonable steps to keep it a secret.

For example, you don’t register your customer list but your customer list is considered to be your trade secret.  You would take care that no one has access to your customer list.  The steps you take to safeguard your customer list are proof showing that your customer list is your trade secret.  Trade secret protection lasts for as long as the information remains confidential.  You have a trade secret in your customer list for as long as it remains a secret.  Once the information is known to the public, the information ceases to be a trade secret.

What qualifies as a trade secret?

A trade secret is:

  1. information that is not known to the public;
  2. information that is financially valuable because it is not known to the public; and
  3. information that its owner has taken steps to keep secret.

Once the information has become known to the public, it is no longer secret, and thus the information is no longer protectable as a trade secret.

State and Federal Trade Secret Laws

Each state has its own laws related to trade secrets.  Many states have enacted a modified version of the Uniform Trade Secret Act. California’s trade secret law is contained in Cal. Civil Code Sections 3426-3426.11.  However, this proves a great baseline for learning the basics of trade secret protection.

Two federal trade secret laws were recently passed.  They are the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 and the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016.

What do trade secret laws protect against?

Trade secret laws protect against the unauthorized taking of valuable confidential information of a company.  Most of these thefts are not by force but voluntarily given to others.  For example, someone may call an assistant and convince him or her to send over confidential information.  If you don’t believe that this can happen, then read this.  In 2016, a few people stole the formula for COKE and tried to sell it to Pepsi.  But, little did these thieves know that Pepsi couldn’t use the information because they knew that the Coke formula was stolen.  Pepsi reported them to law enforcement.

Trade secret laws do not protect against independent creation.  For example, if you have technical knowledge that can change the world but someone else discovers the same information without your help, the second person has not violated the first person’s trade secret rights.  The second person did not steal the information from the first person.

This leads us to the patent discussion.  An invention when first conceived starts out as a trade secret of the invention.  Once they start to market the invention to others, the invention ceases to be a trade secret.  To continue to protect the invention, inventors must file a patent application.  If there are two inventors that conceive of the same invention at the same time, both have trade secret protection but it is the one that wins the race to the patent office that will be awarded patent rights.

What types of ideas or information should be protected by trade secrets?

Recipes and inventions that cannot be reverse engineered are good candidates for trade secret protection.

What types of ideas or information should not be protected by trade secrets?

Information that can be reverse engineered cannot be protected by a trade secret.  If your invention is a mechanical product, then anyone can reverse engineer your product once they purchase your product.  Inventions can be protected as a trade secret up until they are marketed to the public.  If the invention is a software product and the inventive aspect occurs in the cloud and others can’t reverse engineer how the software works, then it could be protected by trade secrets.

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Author

James Yang is a patent attorney. For more than 16 years, James Yang has been representing clients to secure patent protection for their inventions and register trademarks to protect their brands. If you need help, call him at (949) 433-0900. Read More…

Popular Posts

  • Patent process overview
  • Patent process explained
  • How much does a patent cost?
  • Why patent your invention in a bad economy?

Patent Book

Navigating the Patent System - new book by Orange County patent attorney, James Yang

Navigating the Patent System: Learn the patent process and strategies to protect your invention

Read for Free
Buy at Amazon

RECEIVE PATENT ARTICLES

Stay up to date on major changes and get tips on the patent process.

We respect your privacy.

Popular Posts

Patent process overview
Patent process explained
How much does a patent cost?
Trademark process and costs
Patent process and costs

 

Services

Patent Consultations
Patent Searches
Patent Applications
Utility Patents
Design Patents
Patent Prosecution Services
Patent Defense Services
Patent-Law Counsel for In-House Attorneys
Trademark Overview
Trademark Search Services
Trademark Application Services
Trademark Prosecution Services
Trademark Enforcement Services
Trademark Defense Services
See All Services

Industries

Automotive Patents
Consumer Products Patents
Culinary Patents
Manufacturing Patents
Medical Patents
Optics Patents
Software & App Patents
See All Industries

Contact

James Yang
OC Patent Lawyer
2372 Morse Ave., Suite #178
Irvine, CA 92614
Tel: (949) 433-0900

Connect

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Sitemaps

Sitemap: Pages | Sitemap: Posts

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

By accessing this blog, you agree that no attorney-client relationship is formed except by a subsequent written retainer agreement. Also, you agree to not send confidential information unless directed by me to do so. The information posted on this blog is legal information and not legal advice.
Complete Terms of Use
Complete Privacy Policy

ADA Compliance

OC Patent Lawyer aims to ensure that its services are accessible to people with disabilities.
Accessibility Statement

Service Area

From our office in Irvine, California, we serve clients from all areas within Orange County and Los Angeles County, California.

© 2023 · James Yang, Your Entrepreneur and Mid-Size Business Patent Attorney