1. SPRING BOARD DOCTRINE
A CRITICAL STUDY OF TRADE
SECRET INFORMATION
Prepared By:
Suneeta Mohapatra
Roll No. 81003150006
LLM, NMIMS,
School of Law

2. Trade Secret – Meaning & Definition
Trade Secret Law in India & US
Objectives of trade secret
Springboard Doctrine
Case Studies related to spring board doctrine
What must be established to obtain a springboard
injunction?
Coca-cola case study
Indian Case Studies

3. Finding Effects of enacting trade secret
law
The TRIPS Agreement on Undisclosed
Information
Paris Convention for the Protection of
Industrial Property, Articles 1 and 10bis
Advantages of trade secret protection
Violation of trade secrets
Conclusion

4. TRADE SECRET
 Trade Secret provides advantage to any organisation over
their competitors who do not have that information.
 Trade secret is defined in Black Law Dictionary, By
Bryan A. Garner :
“A formula, process, device, or other business
information that is kept confidential to maintain an
advantage over competitors; information including a
formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method,
technique, or process that :

5. TRADE SECRET CONTD....
(1) derives independent economic value, actual or potential from not
being generally known or readily ascertainable by others who can
obtain economic value from its disclosure or use
(2) is the subject of reasonable efforts, under the circumstances, to
maintain its secrecy.”
This definition states the majority view, which is found in the
Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

6. TRADE SECRET LAW IN US &
INDIA
US
EEA
UTSA
INDIA
Information
Technology
Act
Trade and
Merchandise
Marks Act
Copyright
Act

7. OBJECTIVES OF TRADE SECRET:
 To understand the nature of trade secrets,
the reasons for protecting them and the
practical challenges in identifying and
protecting them.
 To know how to develop an effective trade
secret management program.
 To understand what is meant by
misappropriation of a trade secret and how
to prevent such misappropriation.

8.  To know how to take various types of suitable
actions to prevent violation of trade secrets.
 To understand why and how to conduct a trade
secret audit.

9. SPRINGBOARD DOCTRINE
A springboard injunction is a type of
injunction designed to remove or limit the
advantage that an employee has gained
through unlawful activities, typically
through the misuse of the employer’s
confidential information.

10. SPRINGBOARD DOCTRINE
CONTD.......
 The individual is placed “under a special
disability” by the injunction in order to “ensure
that he does not get an unfair start”.
 All of the early cases under the springboard
doctrine are related to the misuse of confidential
information.

11. CASE STUDIES
 Roger Bullivant Ltd v Ellis
 UBS Wealth Management (UK) Ltd &
Another v Vestro Wealth LLP & Others
Openshaw J
 Tullett Prebon Plc & Others v BGC
Brokers LP & Others

12. WHAT MUST BE ESTABLISHED TO OBTAIN
A SPRINGBOARD INJUNCTION?
 That there has been unlawful behaviour on the
part of the former employee/director – typically
misuse of confidential information but
increasingly other breaches of duty.
 That an unfair competitive advantage over the
employer as a result of the unlawful activity has
been obtained.

13. WHAT MUST BE ESTABLISHED TO
OBTAIN A SPRINGBOARD
INJUNCTION? CONTD....
 That the nature and period of the
competitive advantage is more than
“short-term”.
 That the advantage still exists at the date
the springboard injunction is sought and
will continue to have effect unless the
relief is granted.

14. COCA-COLA CASE STUDY

15. COCA-COLA CASE STUDY
CONTD....
 In1880, upon developing its secret recipe
for the world’s first soft-drink, the Coca-
Cola Company was presented with a
dilemma of sorts.
 It needed desperately to protect what it
had just developed, yet patent protection
would only provide security for 17 years.

16. COCA-COLA CASE STUDY CONTD....
 The executives at Coca-Cola weighed these
factors, and determined that they had the means to
keep the recipe for Coca-Cola completely
secret. Thus they chose not to file a patent.
 The FBI arrested three people in Atlanta on
charges that they conspired to steal trade secrets
from Coca-Cola Co. and sell the information for
more than $1.5 million to PepsiCo Inc., federal
law enforcement officials said.

17. COCA-COLA CASE STUDY CONTD....
 The defendants, including one Coca-Cola
employee, who worked as an administrative
assistant in the company's Atlanta headquarters,
contacted PepsiCo officials, who tipped off Coca-
Cola officials, were sentenced to jail.
 INDIAN CASE:
• John Richard Brady v. Chemical Process
Equipments (P) Ltd.
• Anil Gupta v. Kunal Dasgupta

18. FINDING EFFECTS OF ENACTING TRADE
SECRET LAW
 The trade secret law will place responsibilities,
accountability and obligation on all businessmen
and companies.
 It will make answerable to all legal persons to
Trade Secret officer or equivalent officer. Trade
Secret Law will update existing Trade Secret
protection in various statutes.

19. FINDING EFFECTS OF ENACTING
TRADE SECRET LAW CONTD....
 Trade Secret Law will declare that what does the
Trade Secret cover and define kinds of secret
information.
 Trade Secret Commissioner or equivalent will
entertain complaints. If they are found to be
breaching the Trade Secret Law then legal action
can be taken.
 Effected person will get the right to sue for
compensation and punishment for wrongdoers

20. THE TRIPS AGREEMENT ON
UNDISCLOSED INFORMATION
 Protection of undisclosed information is
addressed in Article 39 of the Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization
(WTO).
 This agreement entered into force on 1 January
1995 and established an international standard
requiring WTO Members to protect undisclosed
information including agricultural and
pharmaceutical test data.

21. SECTION 7: PROTECTION OF UNDISCLOSED
INFORMATION , ARTICLE 39
 In the course of ensuring effective protection against
unfair competition as provided in Article 10b is of the
Paris Convention (1967), Members shall protect
undisclosed information and data submitted to
governments or governmental agencies
 Natural and legal persons shall have the possibility of
preventing information lawfully within their control from
being disclosed to, acquired by, or used by others
without their consent in a manner contrary to honest
commercial practices so long as such information:
 is secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the
precise configuration and assembly of its components,
generally known among or readily accessible to persons
within the circles that normally deal with the kind of
information in question;

22. SECTION 7: PROTECTION OF UNDISCLOSED
INFORMATION, ARTICLE 39 CONTD....
 has commercial value because it is secret;
 has been subject to reasonable steps under the
circumstances, by the person lawfully in control of the
information, to keep it secret.
 Members, when requiring, as a condition of approving
the marketing of pharmaceutical or of agricultural
chemical products which utilise new chemical entities,
the submission of undisclosed test or other data, the
origination of which involves a considerable effort, shall
protect such data against unfair commercial use. In
addition, Members shall protect such data against
disclosure, except where necessary to protect the public,
or unless steps are taken to ensure that the data are
protected against unfair commercial use.

23. PARIS CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY, ARTICLES 1 AND
10BIS.
 In protecting Trade Secrets, the TRIPS Agreement
references the protection provided in the Paris
Convention against unfair competition.
 Article 10bis of the Paris Convention highlights the
nature of protection against unfair competition.
 Article 1 also defines the scope of industrial property
originally covered, which the TRIPS Agreement extends
by explicitly providing for protection of undisclosed
information.

24. ADVANTAGES OF TRADE SECRET
PROTECTION
 Trade secrets involve no registration costs;
 Trade secret protection does not require disclosure
or registration;
 Trade secret protection is not limited in time;
 Trade secrets have immediate effect.

25. VIOLATION OF TRADE SECRETS
To establish violation of trade secret rights,
the owner of a trade secret must be able to
show the following:
Infringement by or competitive advantage
gained by the person/company which has
misappropriated the trade secret.
The owner had taken all reasonable steps to
maintain it as a secret.
There is misuse as the information obtained
has been used or disclosed in violation of the
honest commercial practices.

26. CONCLUSION
 Trade secrets protection is fundamental to
encourage innovative steps, foreign investments
and to promote healthy competition.
 In India, trade secrets is the most deserted field as
there is no proper policy framework for the
protection of trade secrets and some indirect
provisions from contract law, criminal law and
copyright law protect the trade secrets. These laws
are not sufficient for adequate protection of trade
secrets in India.

27. CONCLUSION CONTD....
 It is difficult to accept the fact that Indian law
doesn’t place any sort of relevance upon the
growth of new and developing IPR laws in the
world.New trade secret legislation is therefore, the
only way to ensure strong and effective IPR
protection which would in turn open up new and
profitable possibilities for the business scenario in
India to flourish.