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CS Professional · Intellectual Property Rights - Law and Practice · Protection of Trade Secrets

Meera Textiles of Surat keeps its dye-mixing process confidential, but its managing director publishes the full process in a trade magazine interview to attract investors. Two months later, a competitor uses the process. What is the likely legal position?

The protection is lost. A trade secret depends on the information remaining confidential, and when Meera's own managing director published the process publicly, it entered the public domain. The competitor's later use is not a breach of confidence, since nothing secret remains to be protected.

  1. AThe process ceases to be secret through the voluntary public disclosure, so confidentiality protection is lostCorrect
  2. BThe process remains protected because Meera never registered it, and registration is what creates the loss of secrecy
  3. CThe process remains protected for 20 years because the publication was made by a director
  4. DThe competitor is liable because any use of a once-secret process is infringement

Explanation

Secrecy is the essence of a trade secret. Once the owner itself places the information in the public domain, it no longer has the quality of confidence, so there is nothing left to protect. Option D wrongly treats past secrecy as permanent protection, and there is no 20-year term for trade secrets.

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