Talk:Trade secret/Archives/2014

History

The history section seems like a garbled re-telling of something without checking sources. I cannot see anything in Newbery v James that looks like a recognition of "trade secret" law in so far as I understand what the concept means (I'm an English lawyer and I'm fairly sure that we don't have anything resembling the US equivalent - we have a law of confidence but that's a different matter). What happened in the case is that the court dissolved an interim injunction and suggested that a claim be made for damages. It did not recognise that there was a claim, it merely refused to continue an injunction. The secret was a secret by contract, so it looks (to me) much like a breach of contract case. The only "trade secret" aspect being that the court thought that because the secret protected by contract was contained in a patent grant, specific performance would not be ordered, which seems to suggest the opposite for what the article contends. I am reading Mark Lemley's paper (which is the reference supporting the quote). The fact he can't be bothered to spell the case name correctly suggests he didn't read it and so is not really a reliable source. Francis Davey (talk) 22:59, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

I had just placed two {{Clarify}} requests in the 19th century paragraph before reading your comment above, so after that Newbery cite I have now added {{dubious}} linking to this Talk page section. -84user (talk) 17:59, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

US Bias

This article either needs completely re-writing or re-naming to Trade Secrets in the US as there is virtually no information on other countries and the article hasn't been improved since the first mention of US only info was tagged in December 2010. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Silent52 (talk • contribs)

Absolutely in spades! The problem seems to be that the US developed a system for protecting trade secrets that is distinct from the way that similar kinds of secret are protected elsewhere. Unfortunately US legal literature appears (see my remark above) to see in earlier common law cases a nascent "trade secret" law which is not really there. Thus there is an assumption that really its all the same, when in fact the English equivalent - breach of confidence - is really very different indeed. Breach of confidence was developed by our courts as an analogy to breach of trust, or perhaps an extension of the concept. It has a very different jurisprudential shape, both in theory and in practice. It is simply confusing to try to put the two together and pretend they are all really the same thing. What is more the term "trade secret" *is* used in English law but for a category of secrets that are *more* than merely confidential (see Faccenda Chicken v Fowler for instance). A page about the protection of confidential information in different legal systems, pointing to articles, would be great. This really ought to be about US trade secret law and anything useful on other systems can be merged into breach of confidence etc. We can then see if we have enough for a general page, which might need a different name. Francis Davey (talk) 21:56, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

I also agree, but I have no expertise in this area, other than limited experience with business confidential secrets in United Kingdom employment contracts. In case it helps any future editor, here are a few UK-related links: Laws Protecting Trade Secrets and Confidential Information set to Change, Intellectual property and your work and Guidance - Factsheet on Trade Secrets in China. -84user (talk) 18:07, 17 October 2014 (UTC)