Trade Secret Protection: A Global Guide | Globe Law and Business

Partners Lynda Zadra-Symes and Boris Zelkind contributed to the United States chapter for the recent "Trade Secret Protection: A Global Guide" published by Globe Law and Business.

Description: The law of trade secrets is one of the most important areas of intellectual property, but by far the least harmonised internationally. Indeed, the protection of trade secrets was not mandated by any international treaty until the 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which nonetheless left countries with significant latitude as to how they should implement such obligations.

The wide variety of approaches to the protection of trade secrets internationally betrays the murky legal origins of such protection. Are they protected by civil actions, in the criminal courts or both? And from the point of view of the civil courts, is their protection effected under unfair competition law, as seen in many civil law countries, or is it based instead on some implied contract, fiduciary or other equitable obligation theory, as seen in common law countries?

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