March 29, 2024
Trade Secret

Trade Secret V/S Patent Protection

The trademark registration in Dubai has all the protection rights against the intellectual property or work created by the owners. Trade secrets are considered intellectual property and have protection just like the copyright and patent. To make your worth in the business and marketing field you need to understand the importance of your intellectual property protection such as logo registration in UAE, copyright protection, and trade secrets.

The thing that needs to understand is all the secrets are not assumed as trade secrets there are certain criteria and terms that should be considered to make it a trade secret. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has legally made three different standards.

  • The data or secret should have an independent financial value and economy. This information is not considered to be public property.
  • The importance of the secret for those who can not gain the information legally.
  • There must be considerable efforts to make the information safe and protected as a secret.

Some examples of trade secrets

The chemical formula of a cosmetic product and the formulation of Coke are the pieces of information that are enclosed in a lock and considered a trade secret. The actual extent of a trade secret has been coming across the intellectual property such as:

  • Protocols of product manufacturing
  • Ingredients of formulation recipe
  • List of potential clients
  • Research and development information
  • New innovations and techniques
  • strategic plans and ideas

Difference between trade secret and patent

In order to keep your intellectual property safe and protected you need to understand the difference between the types of protection such as trade secrets and patents. Some of the distinctions are as follows.

As we know a trade secret is an information that is kept in lock and protects the identity of the data. On the other hand, if you have patent protection or trademark registration in Dubai, the information is open to the public and no secret remains. In case your patent got expired, all the information and data are not protected any longer and the inventions and ideas become public.

To have patent protection there is a lengthy process and you have to apply for it first. It is not an easy process as it contains a lot of documentation, legal processes, technical data and details, and testing. In some cases, it becomes a matter of years to have patent protection.

On the other hand, the trade secret is not difficult to establish. There is no need for any protection certificate or patent for the information to kept secret. There is no government or private agencies involved in the trade secret designation. It is your sole responsibility and your company’s influence to protect the secret information.

Law of trade secret

There are a total of three legal rulings that make the trade secret stronger.

  • First, the “Uniform Trade Secrets Act” 1979. It was amended in 1985.
  • Second, the “Economic Espionage Act” 1996.
  • Third, the “Defend Trade Secrets Act” 2016.

Conclusion

There are different types of business information and company policies that are considered to be protected as a trade secret. Although there are trademark registration in Dubai and logo registration in UAE, the data that is the core secret for business such as formulations and recipes are meant for trade secrets.

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