The protection of trade secrets involves a combination of business and legal acumen.

The best way to protect a trade secret is not to disclose it to anybody.  This should be the default position – keep it secret!  But, in the real world, that is rarely possible or practical.  Often, trade secrets must be disclosed to be able to benefit from them.

Trade secret disclosures can generally be broken down into three categories: (1) Disclosure to employees; (2) Disclosure to potential strategic partners and (3) Disclosure to potential sources of financing.