Definition and Governing Law

The commonly accepted definition of a trade secret is any information (including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process) that derives independent economic value, whether actual or potential, from not being known to the public or others and is the subject of reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy. Thus, both information that is valuable to a company and information that has potential value can be protected.

Trade secrets are governed by a patchwork of various state laws. There is no specific federal trade secret law (although there is a federal Economic Espionage Act that criminalizes theft of trade secrets), and each state has been free to enact its own statutes governing ...

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