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

Ritu Textiles scans and shares a dye formula with a joint-venture partner under a non-disclosure agreement and tells staff to treat it as confidential. The formula gives it a market edge. Which set of conditions satisfies TRIPS Article 39(2) for protection of undisclosed information?

Article 39(2) of TRIPS requires three things: the information is secret, it has commercial value because it is secret, and the lawful holder has taken reasonable steps to keep it secret. Ritu Textiles' NDA and staff instructions meet the third condition.

  1. ASecrecy, commercial value because it is secret, and reasonable steps to keep it secretCorrect
  2. BSecrecy, inventive step, and industrial applicability
  3. CRegistration, secrecy, and publication in an official gazette
  4. DSecrecy, originality of expression, and fixation in a material form

Explanation

Article 39(2) has three conditions: the information is secret, has commercial value because it is secret, and has been subject to reasonable steps by the lawful holder to keep it secret. The NDA and staff instructions show reasonable steps. The other sets mix in patent, registration or copyright concepts.

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