The Act enables you to obtain significant remedies from a judge against any competitor who uses your trade secrets. However, you must overcome several hurdles before you can obtain any remedy. First, you must prove that the information you desire to protect qualifies as a trade secret. Moreover, you must prove that your trade secret was misappropriated. The Act places no limitation on the type of information that can qualify as a trade secret.
Trade secrets can also include unique compilations of generally known information.
For example, miscellaneous service manuals and technical bulletins that are freely available could be assembled into one unique and valuable collection. This collection could then qualify as a trade secret. Regardless of the type of information involved, you must satisfy a two-part test to qualify your information as a trade secret. As shown below, whether you pass the test may depend to some extent on the subjective opinion of a judge. To pass the first part of the test, you must make reasonable efforts to keep your information secret or confidential.