Trade Secret meaning

Set out below are the key practical competition law considerations when preparing and submitting the Form CO to the European Commission (the Commission): Confirm eligibility for a Short Form CO to reduce disclosures. Build in time; a full Form demands extensive data, including Member State market shares. For turnover, use the Commission’s official ECB exchange rate and support the filing with economic analysis. If information is unavailable, explain why and estimate; if requests seem irrelevant, justify and obtain a waiver with the case team. Check accuracy; inaccuracies render the Form CO ineffective until the Commission is satisfied. Provide precise contact details for customers, competitors and suppliers, and include caveats for any assumptions. Allow time for authorisations and, where required, signature of the declaration by the relevant business person or in-house lawyers. Prepare required copies (one original, three paper, two CD or DVD) and translate supporting documents not in an EU official language. Review supporting documents for any “anti-competitive” language...

In a 31-page published opinion, the Eleventh Circuit overturned the lower court’s dismissal of Alabama Aircraft Industries Inc, formerly Pemco, under the Missouri Trade Secrets Act, but clarified that unjust enrichment is the sole remedy it can obtain against Boeing, as the parties’ contracts blocked all other avenues of relief AAI might pursue. The decision is the latest turn in a years-long trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract dispute first brought in 2011. AAI claimed Boeing pursued a prolonged strategy to capture a lucrative US Air Force contract for servicing the KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft, a contract AAI said it had held for decades. The companies initially agreed in the 2000s to team up on a maintenance bid. However, AAI alleged Boeing later excluded it from the arrangement and then secured the award by pricing just 1% below AAI’s proposal. When the matter finally went to trial in 2020, a jury awarded AAI more than US$2 m for Boeing’s alleged conduct, which included breaching a non-disclosure agreement and their...

Illiquidx Ltd v Altana Wealth Ltd and others [2025] EWHC 299 (Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision highlights the need for precise, clear definitions and clauses in NDAs, especially concerning the boundaries of confidential information and what falls within the public domain. Equally, spelling out permitted disclosures reduces uncertainty; providing information to third parties does not, on its own, render it public or remove its confidentiality. The court will evaluate disclosures on their individual facts, with the key consideration being how far the veil of secrecy still remains. It is also prudent to set out contractually how confidential information will be handled if a commercial relationship ends or breaks down unexpectedly. Measures might include requiring confidential information (and any materials that contain it) to be returned, deleted, or destroyed. For trade secret protection, the absence of an NDA does not automatically mean the obligation to take reasonable steps to keep material secret is unmet. The court will assess the context and...

In this issue: Confidential Information General IP LexTalk®IP: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Confidential Information Court of Appeal—application of service gateways to misuse of trade secret claims (Playtech Software Ltd v Realtime SIA) In Playtech Software Ltd v Realtime SIA [2025] EWCA Civ 1472, the Court of Appeal set aside the High Court’s permission for Playtech to serve its trade secrets and copyright claims on Latvian defendants Realtime SIA and Igors Veliks out of the jurisdiction. Playtech contended that, after leaving its Latvian affiliate, Veliks accessed confidential pre‑launch game material via the Horizon platform, which Realtime then exploited to create competing games. The court concluded that all the impugned conduct occurred in Latvia and any UK loss was merely a consequential economic effect. Consequently, Gateway 21 was not satisfied, as it requires direct damage within the jurisdiction or an obligation of...

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and no longer updated. It was initially prepared for Lexis Practice Adviser, in the US. It outlines similarities and differences between the protections available for typical categories of IP, such as literary works (copyright and trade secret); marketing imagery, characters and slogans (copyright and trade mark); product designs (design patent, copyright and trade dress) and inventions (patent and trade secret). It addresses coverage and duration, as well as scope and eligibility requirements too. Literary works—copyright versus trade secret protection For information to amount to a trade secret, it must truly be confidential, the proprietor must take steps to preserve that confidentiality, and it must confer a competitive economic benefit on the owner. Trade secrets usually comprise commercial or business information and may endure without limit, provided the secrecy is maintained. Copyright, by contrast, applies to subject matter such as literary works, audiovisual works, and sound recordings, and only requires that the work is fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright protection...

Background to semiconductors A semiconductor is, at its core, a material with electrical conductivity that can permit or, alternatively, obstruct the passage of electric current. Chips based on semiconductors—seen in devices such as computers, mobile phones and microwave ovens—are typically produced from circular silicon wafers. Intellectual property rights operate to safeguard the semiconductor sector, encompassing electronic circuit boards and the component chips. Semiconductor topography rights The semiconductor topography right sits alongside unregistered design law and is aimed at protecting a particular industrial article, namely, as noted above, the electronic circuit board and the layout of semiconductors. This right entered UK law through the Design Right (Semiconductor Topographies) Regulations 1989, SI 1989/1100, which implemented European Directive 87/54/EC and now form assimilated law as EU‑derived domestic legislation. Assimilated law is the term applied to retained EU law (REUL) that continues in force after the end of 2023. The shift from REUL (and related expressions) to assimilated law denotes a change in its status and treatment within UK law, in...

Duty of fidelity Every employee owes their employer a duty of fidelity. This duty is often described as a duty of good faith or loyalty. Fidelity is a wide notion, comprising several more specific obligations, some of which overlap with each other and with the duty of trust and confidence (see Practice Note: The term of trust and confidence): to act honestly—the duty requires employees deal with their employer truthfully (refer to: Duty of fidelity—honesty, below) not to compete—during employment, employees must not work for a rival organisation, including one they have founded (see: Duty of fidelity—competition and Duty of fidelity—Preparation to compete, below) not to secure a secret profit—employees must not earn undisclosed profit and must hand over to the employer any sums obtained (see: Duty of fidelity—secret profit, below) to disclose information—likewise, all information generated in the course of employment must be provided to the employer (see: Duty of fidelity—disclosure of information to employer, below) not to misuse confidential information—any...

This Agreement is entered into on [ date ]. Parties [ Insert name of party ] [ of [ insert details ] OR a company incorporated in [ England and Wales ] under number [ insert registered number ], whose registered office is at [ insert address ] ] (the Discloser); and [ Insert name of party ] [ of [ insert details ] OR a company incorporated in [ England and Wales ] under number [ insert registered number ], whose registered office is at [ insert address ] ] (the Recipient). Each of the Discloser and the Recipient is a party and, collectively, the Discloser and the Recipient are the parties. Background The Discloser is [ insert details ] and the Recipient is [ insert details ]. The Discloser intends to provide Confidential Information to the Recipient for the Recipient to use solely for the Purpose. The Discloser seeks to manage such use and...