Heritage Community Foundation Presents
Alberta Online Encyclopedia
Alberta Inventors and Inventions - A Century of Patents homeinfosearchsitemapcontactedukit
inventors
inventions
innovation
patents

Heritage Community Foundation
Alberta Innovation and Science
Canada's Digital Collections
Visit AlbertaSource.ca

Trade Secret

Domestic science class, Alberta Ladies College, Red Deer, Alberta 1913.A trade secret is any information about a product or process that is kept secret by a company from competitors. Trade secrets include processes, recipes or other techniques that are used consistently over a length of time. Some of the most famous trade secrets include the formula for a soft drink or the ingredients for fried chicken. Public knowledge, or widely recognized processes cannot become trade secrets. Unlike a patented invention or a copyrighted work, trade secrets do not have to be original—a trade secret can be a logical improvement to a process that is not patented.

An obvious, yet important characteristic of a trade secret is the significant degree of secrecy involved. It, therefore, serves a purpose different from a patent—since the patent process necessarily requires the disclosure of the specifics of an invention, a trade secret protects just that, the specifics.

Trade secrets are typically protected through non-disclosure agreements between employers and employees, with civil litigation the result of violation of such an agreement.

[<<back] timeline


Albertasource.ca | Contact Us | Partnerships
For more on innovation and invention in Alberta , visit Peel’s Prairie Provinces.
Copyright © Heritage Communty Foundation All Rights Reserved