Trade secret refers to any information related to a product, service, process, or strategy whose confidentiality represents the added value or competitive advantage of a company. This was the topic of discussion in "The 5 Legal Minutes" on Radio Femenina, featuring our lawyer and new head of the Intellectual Property Department, Fátima Espinal.
Our expert explains that the concept of trade secret is connected to the confidentiality of information. In other words, it encompasses specific information that competitors should not know because it signifies a form of advantage.
"Within Intellectual Property, there is trade secret. It refers to all that confidential information that holds great value for a company or business," Espinal states.
Espinal highlights that every company has the right to protect its trade secrets, ensuring legal protection for all products, services, procedures, or policies that it does not want to disclose publicly or belong to third parties.
Our lawyer clarifies that a trade secret can encompass the protection of information related to manufacturing knowledge, customer databases, graphic materials, computer codes, formulas or recipes, commercial strategies, manuals, or financial information.
"If your competition has knowledge of this information, as consumers, we wouldn't care about consuming different products because they would end up being the same. There would be no distinctiveness against your competitors," she adds.
In our legislation, there is a regulation called the Intellectual Property Law that includes a section on trade secrets. Article 177 states that information in the public domain, obvious to a skilled person in the field, or that must be disclosed by legal requirement or court order, is not considered a trade secret.
In the event that an employee or an external individual reveals a trade secret, there will be monetary and even criminal consequences. Espinal notes that companies can claim damages, a right that victims or creditors have to demand from the perpetrator or debtor an amount equivalent to the breach or harm caused.
"There are also criminal consequences. It is a recognized offense under the Penal Code, punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 2 years. If used for personal gain, the penalty can increase up to one-third of the maximum," she concludes.
For more information, please contact our Intellectual Property Department or visit our offices at Calle Cuscatlán, #4312, Colonia Escalón, San Salvador, El Salvador, Central America.
-Written by the Torres Legal Team.