Читать книгу Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs - Howard B. Rockman - Страница 23

As discussed later in this text, patents and copyrights expire after a term of years, while trade secret protection does not. As long as the information covered by a trade secret umbrella remains secret, that information is protected from improper discovery or use by others, unless the secret is independently discovered, as by reverse engineering, or otherwise lawfully made public by someone else. Where the secret is very difficult to discover and the owner is willing to maintain security to ensure its secrecy, trade secret protection is a valuable option and has no endpoint.

However, once the trade secret becomes known, there is no way to restore secret status. If the secret is discoverable upon reviewing the articles in which the secret is used, trade secret protection is useless. In such cases, patent or copyright protection should be considered instead. Unlike patents and copyrights and trademarks, until recently, there was no federal law regulating trade secret protection in the United States. However, in 2016, the U.S. Congress enacted a federal law to protect trade secrets, which is discussed in Chapter 27 of this text. Each state has its own trade secret protection law, and if it is determined that the best way to protect your intellectual property is through the trade secret law, an attorney familiar with this area of your state law should be consulted in the state or states in which you are operating. In the State of Illinois, where I practice, the state legislature has enacted the Illinois Trade Secrets Act, which is currently in effect. This Act sets forth what types of subject matter are considered as trade secrets, such as secret processes, formulas, customer lists, confidential future business plans, etc., and how they are protected. Even if a particular state has not enacted a statute granting trade secret protection, the common law may be available in that state to enforce trade secret rights against misappropriation once the secret is created.