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

Meridian Software Pvt Ltd in Pune shares its unreleased source code with a vendor, Kaveri Tech, under a signed non-disclosure agreement. India has no dedicated trade secret statute. On what basis would Meridian mainly enforce confidentiality if Kaveri leaks the code?

Meridian would rely on breach of contract under the NDA and the equitable doctrine of breach of confidence, since India has no trade secret statute or registration system. Courts grant injunctions and damages on these grounds, while the patent and trademark regimes do not apply to unregistered confidential information.

  1. ARegistration of the code as a trade secret with the Registrar of Trade Marks
  2. BBreach of contract and the equitable doctrine of breach of confidenceCorrect
  3. CA criminal prosecution under the Patents Act, 1970 for disclosure
  4. DA compulsory licence granted by the Controller of Patents

Explanation

India has no specific trade secret statute and no registration system for trade secrets. Protection comes through contract law (the NDA), equitable principles of breach of confidence, and related remedies like injunctions. The other options refer to regimes that do not govern trade secrets.

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