The new protection of trade and business secrets
In the past, the protection of trade and industrial secrets has not received the same attention from legislators as patents or trademarks. However, these secrets – such as the composition of products, manufacturing processes, quotations, terms, technical specifications, proposed business acquisitions, algorithms, encryptions or processes in business establishments (the list of examples could be continued almost endlessly) – must receive wide-ranging protection because of two main reasons. On the one hand, such knowledge may not be eligible for protection as a patent, trademark, design or copyright. On the other hand, there may be situations, in which the owner of such knowledge deliberately waives protection, e.g. as a patent, as this would also include publication. Nevertheless, even in such cases, the owner of these secrets will have an economic interest in them, which highlights the urgency to protect these secrets even more.
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