The truths behind trade secrets

Abstract

To coin a cliché, knowledge is power - and in the world of trade secrets law, information, or knowledge, is what their proprietors make of them. They can serve as the business' backbone for several years and still provide the same level of return investment. In brief, they are the essence of every economic enterprise, whether that enterprise is a multinational or a family run business. Protection of trade secrets is an on-going concern for every rightholder who seeks to limit exposure and disclosure of any information that has value to prevent that the business' core element - its inventiveness - is not diluted. For the purposes of this thesis I shall be treating the rightholder's position from an employer's point of view, however the application of trade secrets applies to several other parties including business partners, joint ventures, etc.. The first chapter of this thesis will outline the juridical history of trade secrets along the years and what defines a trade secret, its nature and characteristics. The second chapter is concerned with the actions at law that an employer or rightholder may avail himself of in instances were the secret has left his sphere of control without his consent. The third chapter is a continuation of the second chapter and deals with the limit and extent of remedies that are available to the aggrieved rightholder at law. The final chapter deals with the limitations that trade secrets law encounters in Malta. The author undertakes a number of suggestions to counter these limitations.