Perhaps you are familiar with a recent Coca-Cola advertising campaign in which the narrator alleges that there are only two men in existence who possess the secret formula to the popular beverage. As you might expect, one man holds the first half of the recipe, while the second man holds the rest. The ad goes on to suggest that something happens to one or both of the men and chaos ensues because without the secret formula, Coca-Cola is lost to the world. Although extreme, this depiction is an example of how a trade secret might be protected.
A trade secret is any form of information such as a process, a design or a recipe that remains publicly unknown because it gives a competitive edge to whoever possesses it. The most basic thing you can do to protect a trade secret is to tell no one – particularly no one outside of your organization who has not already signed a confidentiality agreement. A trade secret is valuable only as long as it is never revealed and so every effort should be made to ensure that the secret is protected and the fewer individuals who have access to it, the lower the risk. The trade secret should be placed in a secure location and then documented in a secure location within your business.