trade secrets

Trade secrets protect proprietary competitive advantages—like the Coca-Cola formula or Google’s search algorithm—through strict internal controls rather than public registration.

Trade secrets bypass the 20 year expiration dates of patents by relying on the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) and Article 39 of the TRIPS Agreement. This framework secures high value assets including negative research results, customer lists, and manufacturing processes (like the WD-40 chemical composition) as long as they remain confidential. Success requires three pillars: the information must be secret, possess independent economic value, and be subject to reasonable security measures (NDAs, encrypted silos, and physical access logs). Unlike patents, there is no filing fee or public disclosure, making it the preferred strategy for long term algorithmic dominance and specialized industrial recipes.

https://www.wipo.int/tradesecrets/en/