ABSTRACT
Trade secrets constitute an important element of intellectual property portfolio. They are instrumental in securing competitive advantage by preserving critical innovations and other confidential data vital for success. The act of identifying these trade secrets, however, possess numerous challenges. There are no established processes on how to conduct trade secret identification on an organizational level in the UK. Academic exploration in this domain is also limited, with an absence of comprehensive studies dedicated to understanding this process. This study aims to bridge this research gap by defining a methodological process for trade secret identification within UK organizations. Leveraging a sequential qualitative mixed-method approach grounded in Knowledge Management (KM) theory, this research analyses 52 legal cases on trade secret misappropriation and conducts 12 interviews with industry professionals. The findings highlight the challenges in trade secret identification and introduce a four-step UVRIP framework as a strategic tool for organizations to assess their informational assets based on usefulness, value, rarity, imitability, and protection. Finally, our paper enriches the discourse on trade secret protection and management, IP audit processes, and KM theory, offering both theoretical and practical contributions.
Ozcan, Oleksandra and Pickernell, David and Bacon, Emily, Identifying Trade Secrets: Strategic Process and Challenges in the UK. Posted to SSRN 5 September 2024.
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