IPR: Can you identify your company’s trade secrets?
Written by Maarit Jokela
Trade secrets are a form of industrial rights. They are not registered, in contrast to patents or trademarks. How can you ensure that trade secrets remain secret?
Through their business activities, many companies accumulate valuable information that they do not want to disclose to others. These are called trade secrets, and they are protected by law.
Trade secrets are part of the intangible assets important to business. Unlike copyright and industrial rights, trade secret protection does not grant the holder exclusive right, but complements intellectual property rights (IPR).
Should another company collect similar information, it can freely use its own material. Moreover, trade secrets are not registered, in contrast to patents or trademarks.
Each company independently decides which information it wants to keep to itself.
“It’s important to identify the information you want to keep as a trade secret. What is also crucial is whether everyone in the company has been made aware of trade secrets,” says Suvi Julin from Berggren Oy, an IP law firm.
What is considered a trade secret?
Under the Trade Secret Act, trade secret means information that carries financial benefit at present or in the future and is not readily accessible. The company must also have taken active measures to protect such information.
Examples of trade secrets include financial information, detailed technical product data, the production process, the customer register, customer analyses and market surveys.
In other words, generally known information or information familiar to professionals in the field is not considered a trade secret. Professional knowledge and competence do not come under the scope of trade secret protection.
How to safeguard trade secrets?
These days, people change jobs frequently. It is important to ensure that they do not take trade secrets with them and use them elsewhere.
Outsourcing and subcontracting are commonly used, and they involve sharing important business information with others.
Various non-disclosure and non-compete agreements and clauses are key instruments in the protection of trade secrets.
Non-disclosure agreements should always be made in writing. They should be used with employees as well as with partners and subcontractors.
“It is possible to extend the non-disclosure obligation to cover a reasonable period after the end of employment,” says Julin. The non-disclosure obligation is typically set to remain in force for two years after the employment relationship comes to an end.
Ari-Pekka Launne from Evkan Oy, a law firm, emphasises the importance of carefully considering to whom you disclose information. It is not always necessary to share all the information with all the employees. A systematic approach is essential for protecting intellectual property rights.
Further information
Find out more on the topic by listening to our podcast (in Finnish), in which I talk to two IPR experts: Suvi Julin from Berggren Oy and Ari-Pekka Launne from Evkan Oy. This podcast is the first in a four-part series on IPRs, which can be found at the MY studio (Mikroyrittäjän studio).
Maarit Jokela
Innovation Manager
+358 40 355 9660, maarit.jokela@oulu.fi
IPR, technology transfer, commercialization of research results, bio- and medical sciences, Proof-of-Concept funding, innovations, communication on innovations, IPR trainings.