TRADE SECRETS: NEED FOR STATUTORY PROTECTION IN INDIA
Keywords:
Business, Protection, Equity Principles, Trade SecretsAbstract
Trade Secrets are that morsel of intangible assets for a company, which have the prowess to provide a cutting edge to the companies over competitors. The intensification of market competition has driven the companies to protect such trade secrets within contours of the business. However, the Indian regime has lagged behind in ensuring adequate protection to trade secrets. While trade secrets are treated subservient to other prominent aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, it is of paramount significance to the companies in order to safeguard their confidential data and processes. In India, Trade secrets are either contractually enforced or made enforceable through a primitive resort to common law principles. This paper tries to track down the regime of trade secret protection in India and its grave implications of inadequate trade secret protection on the market conditions. Through this paper, the authors try to establish the need for a separate legislation regulating the domain of trade secrets. The approach adopted is founded on secondary research, including a study of the law under various regimes across the world. The paper concludes that in the light of the potential that trade secrets behold for a business, it is imperative to formulate adequate protection under the Indian IPR regime in order to boost the growth of a globalised economy. The paper seeks to aid the existing literature with respect to trade secrets and its protection in India, while delving upon the exclusive provisions made in this regard in other countries.
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