respond to two of your peers with meaningful responses.
1st students discussion
In order to fully and adequately protect my trade secret, I would need to take additional steps to ensure that the information was not made public. I would utilize confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with anyone who was requisite of the information contained in the trade secret.The time when an employee leaves a company is a high-risk moment for trade secret theft.To avoid risk from this, I would assess the protocols for limiting or terminating access to valuable data after an employee submits his/her resignation notice as well as the internal processes for ensuring the return or destruction of company data when an employee departs. I would also take measure to ensure that all employees who had reason to be privy to trade secret information were fully aware of what parts of the information were deemed "trade secrets", and understood the gravity and duty to protect the aforementioned data.
Regarding application for a patent, I believe that I would weigh several factors before making that decision. I would consider how long I believe that the information could be kept a trade secret. How likely is reverse engineering to occur that could uncover the secret? If I believe that reverse engineering would take less time than that of a patent, I would choose the patent. I also would consider how many people would have to be privy to the trade secret. If it is information that could truly be limited to an exceedingly small number of top tier people vs information that most of the employees would need to be able to do their job, I may also consider a patent - as the more people involved with the information, the greater the chance of a leak. I also would consider the relative lifespan of relevancy of the trade secret protected product. If I believe the usefulness and relevance of the product outlives the span of protection offered by a patent, I may consider forgoing the patent.
2nd students discussion
A trade secret is always protected from being leaked or being disclosed as they are used as company benefits or the one who owns it. In the case of disclosed legal actions is taken against the person who breaches the contract and loss is recovered. There are technical and legal measures to protect trade secrets as it is for an indefinite time. Ways trade secrets can be protected are continuously monitoring the data, adequate security, labeling it to be personal, advanced software protection, limited access, and a trustworthy team.
If I invented something and it has to be patent there are measures and criteria. The patent is the monopoly right given by the government temporarily. This can be for 14-20 years. The patent owner has the right to make it public with its permission, he has the right to stop making, using, and selling his patent material. The patent can be on any article, machine, or its part, or on any process. It is of three types utility patent, design patent, and plant patent.
And in the case of a trade secret, this is intellectual property used by the owner for its own benefits. The difference between patent and trade secrets is that patent is disclosed and is benefited and trade secrets benefitted in not being disclosed. They are mostly ideas, formula, pattern, or compilation of a process, etc. They are kept secret as they don't expire, if it is leaked the legal action follows as they are used as commercial privacy and economical value.
Work cited:
https://www.uspto.gov/ip-policy/trade-secret-policy