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Contract & Commercial Law vocabulary · Intellectual Property

Trade secret

Meaning in contract & commercial law, with examples

nounCommon term

In contract & commercial law, trade secret means: Valuable business information, such as a formula, a process or a customer list, that gives a company an advantage because it is kept secret.

In Turkish: ticari sır, ticari sır niteliğindeki bilgi

How it is used

Unlike patents, trade secrets are not registered and can be protected for as long as they stay secret. The owner must take reasonable steps to protect them, such as NDAs, access controls and confidentiality clauses in employment contracts.

Example sentences

  1. The recipe for the sauce is a trade secret known to only three employees.

  2. The former engineer is accused of taking trade secrets to a competitor.

Common collocations

  • protect trade secrets
  • misuse of trade secrets
  • trade secret protection
  • disclose a trade secret
  • intellectual propertyLegal rights over creations of the mind, such as inventions, brands, designs, software and written works; the main types are patents, trademarks, copyright and designs.
  • non-disclosure agreementA contract in which one or both parties promise to keep shared information secret and not to use it for any purpose other than the one agreed.
  • confidentiality clauseA clause that requires the parties to keep certain information secret and to use it only for the purpose of the contract.
  • non-compete clauseA clause that stops a person or company from competing with the other party, for example by working for a rival, for a limited time and in a limited area.

More terms: Intellectual Property

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not legal advice.