Different states define trade secrets in various ways. Generally, a trade secret is information an organization has that gives it an advantage by being secret. It could be a customer list, a recipe, a method of doing business, software, a chemical process, and many other kinds of information. It could even be "negative" information -- knowing what not to do.
To have legal protection for the trade secret, the organization needs to take reasonable steps to keep the information secret, and it may need to prove those steps in court. The type of precautions usually seen are confidentiality agreements and limits on who has access to the information within the organization.
There are risks in trying to keep something secret. For example, if the secret is disclosed, the value could be lost without an effective way to recover it. This can occur when employees make mistakes, publishing sensitive information. If the recipient of the information was innocent, it is unlikely that the trade secret owner will be able to obtain an injunction or recover the value of the secret that was lost. Also, a third party could discover the information independently. If that happens, there has been no violation of a duty of confidentiality, so there is no case. More importantly, however, is that a second inventor can obtain a patent and assert it against an earlier inventor who kept the invention in secret. That can be an expensive consequence of not making a public record by filing a patent application or publishing the information.
To learn more about these issues send us an email or call a trade secret lawyer at (713) 972-1150.