Trade Secret Law: Legal Analysis of Confidential Information

This assignment explores the legal aspects of trade secrets, including confidentiality agreements, breach of contract, and copyright law. The first answer examines a situation where a confidentiality agreement was breached, entitling the aggrieved party to compensation. The second answer delves into a copyright infringement case involving a drink formula, emphasizing automatic copyright protection. The third answer discusses restrictive covenants in employment contracts, focusing on their enforceability and duration. The assignment analyzes these scenarios using relevant legal principles and provides a comprehensive understanding of trade secret protection and intellectual property rights. It also includes references to legal precedents and statutes to support the arguments presented.

Running head: TRADE SECRET LAW
Trade Secret Law
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

TRADE SECRET LAW
Answer 1
Any information which can be regarded as confidential is known as confidential information. A
trade secret is a subset of confidential information. Confidential information has to be protected
and is not required to be registered. The protection of trade secrets is done through the creation
of confidentiality agreements (Clarke, Sweeney & Bender 2011). Confidentiality agreements
function under the provisions of common contract law. Therefore in case confidentiality
agreement is violated the aggrieved party is entitled to claim compensation for the wrongdoer
under rules of damages in contract law (Milgrim, Roger and Bensen 2017). In the given situation
in spite of presence of a confidentiality agreement between M and H ltd that the trade secret
would be kept as confidential by the parties, the trade secret has been misused by H Ltd. This is a
clear breach of contract under the rules of contract law. Therefore M is entitled to claim
compensation for all the losses incurred by her in relation to the misuse of trade secrets by H Ltd.
Answer 2
In the give situation it has been provided that Angela who is the marketing manager of Drinks
Ahoy which specializes in manufacturing a special drink known as Liquifizz. In the given
situation it has been provided that in order to meet the demand of the market she took Carl who
is the MD of Boniface Bottling to a confidential room in the factory to provide him details about
the formula of Liquifizz which is not patented and is protected through secret ingredients. it has
been provided by the scenario that the Boniface have not signed the licensing agreement
according to which had provisions for confidentiality. The company has produced an identical
drink few years later and claims that they did not steel any formula. In the given situation
through the application of copyright law provided through the Copyright Act 1968 Section 31 it

TRADE SECRET LAW
can be provided that Drinks Ahoy owns the copyright on the drink. This is because a copyright
need not be registered and is created automatically as soon as an idea is brought into existence
(Halt et al. 2014). Thus as the drink manufactured by Boniface is identical which means that the
copyright of Drinks Ahoy have been violated, Angela can make a claim under the Copyright Act.
Answer 3
A restrictive covenant is imposed in an employee who has left the organization for the protection
of business secrets and interest of the business. These terms are imposed on only if they are
reasonably necessary for the purpose of protecting the interest of the previous employer. They
can include terms like non completion and non dealing. However it is difficult to justify any
covenant which is more than a period of 6-12 months (Menell 2017). In the given situation it has
been provide that the manager was responsible for building the client base of the Wombat Ltd.
He has access to all information in relation to the organization. Therefore the organization may
impose the causes provided in the situation on the manager. However the clauses may not be
possible to be imposed for a period of 12 months as the courts generally do not allow such long
duration on covenants.

TRADE SECRET LAW
References
Clarke, B., Sweeney, B & Bender, M. (2011). Marketing and the Law. Lexus Nexus
Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)
Halt Jr, Gerald B., Robert Fesnak, John C. Donch, and Amber R. Stiles. "Trade Secret
Protection." In Intellectual Property in Consumer Electronics, Software and Technology
Startups, pp. 25-32. Springer New York, 2014
Menell, Peter S. "Tailoring a Public Policy Exception to Trade Secret Protection." Cal. L.
Rev. 105 (2017): 1.
Milgrim, Roger M., and Eric E. Bensen. Use of agreements to protect trade secrets in the
employment relationship. Vol. 2. Milgrim on Trade Secrets, 2016.