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

Ravi, a senior engineer at Meridian Tools Pvt Ltd, signed a confidentiality agreement and then left to join a rival. Meridian sues to stop him from using its confidential manufacturing process data. Indian courts, following the approach in cases such as Richard Brady v. Chemical Process Equipments, would most likely treat the claim as one based on:

The claim would be treated as breach of confidence, grounded in contract and equity. India has no dedicated trade secret statute and trade secrets cannot be registered, so courts rely on confidentiality agreements and equitable principles to grant injunctions and damages.

  1. ABreach of confidence and equity, since India has no dedicated trade secret statuteCorrect
  2. BInfringement of a registered trade secret under a specific Trade Secrets Act
  3. CPatent infringement because the process is automatically patented
  4. DCopyright infringement under the Copyright Act, 1957 only

Explanation

India has no standalone trade secrets statute. Courts protect trade secrets through contract law, equitable principles of breach of confidence and, where relevant, common law. Trade secrets are not registered, and a process is not automatically patented, so the other options are wrong.

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