Sometimes light acts like a wave. Physicists aren't sure if light is a particle or a wave but manage to go about their daily business using both models. The debate is not new. Past trends lead to interesting extrapolations. The contract claims ownership in the trade secret or confidential information and the parties agree to maintain it in secrecy.
Data can be exigible just like other forms of property.
Computer software which is a trade secret is exigible to a writ of seizure and sale. To be treated as proprietary data, the data must have been created by the owner, been created for the owner, or been purchased from its creator. Public information includes information which the public either knows or has available to it in books, articles or from other sources. The whole body of the information need not be completely novel. The system design and specifications created by a programmer can be a trade-secret or confidential information where the design and specification is not general but is specific in nature, if it was treated as confidential and was subject to a danger of being copied as evidence by the restrictive licensing agreement which customers were required to sign.