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Protect trade secrets9/28/2023 The court held that the applicant had failed to prove that any of the information was confidential. In this case7, the applicant sought to interdict an ex-employee from joining a competitor on the basis that the respondent would unlawfully make use of the applicant’s trade secrets. It is important to note that confidential information not classified as a trade secret may be used by an employee for his own benefit or for the benefit of others after the termination of his employment to the extent that it was not copied and/ or deliberately memorized for use after of the employment contract6. make trade secret protection a priority5.instituting and information protection team.establishing due diligence and on-going third party management procedures.ensuring that there are restraint of trade provisions in the employment contracts.conducting exit interviews with departing employees to ensure the return of all confidential information in the employee’s possession and to emphasise confidential obligations.disposing confidential information by shredding or other means designed to destroy the information.maintaining information with password protection.making use of non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements.marking documents that they constitute confidential information.restricting access to confidential information physically and electronically to only those individuals that need to know the information. ![]() Reasonable measures to protect trade secrets:Ī trade secret owner should employ as many precautions as reasonably possible such as: Nonetheless, trade secrets can still be a useful tool for small and medium businesses that do not have the resources to protect their intellectual property assets by other forms of protection such as trade marks and patents which require registration. The enforceability of the trade secrets is generally not easy and may prove to be costly – not ideal for small entities and start-ups. However, the disadvantages are that trade secrets can be reverse-engineered once the secret is made public and then anyone is at liberty to use the information. The advantages of trade secrets are that trade secrets do not have to be registered and have no limited protection frame, there are no registration costs and there are no formal compliance requirements that have to be met. Member countries may have identified more criteria but Article 393 serves as a basis for the member states of the TRIPS Agreement4 This is the general guideline in determining whether information is a secret and if it can be protected as a ‘trade secret’. has been subject to reasonable steps by the person in control of the information to keep it a secret.has commercial value because it is secret and.a secret in a sense that it is not generally known among or readily accessible to persons that generally deal with the type of information.Information such as customer lists, information received by an employee regarding business opportunities valuable to an employer and information provided to an employee in confidence in the course and scope of his employment could be identified as confidential1.Įven negative information such as failed remedies or manufacture of products and failed research could be protected as a trade secret as it could save a competing business high costs if they have a what not to do guide.Īrticle 39 of the TRIPS Agreement2, provides that member states shall protect “ undisclosed information” against the unauthorised use “ in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices” as long as the information is: ![]() Should information that constitutes as a trade secret be leaked, it could have a major negative effect on the business. It is information that imparts value to its holder and one that provides a competitive edge over its competitors. ![]() ![]() A Trade secret is information that is useful in the industry and that is kept confidential.
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