Secrecy In Trade And Technology; The Intellection Of Knowledge Dissemination And Protection

Akash Chatterjee, Amity Law School Kolkata

ABSTRACT

Knowledge has always been equated with the most important and valuable possession in any trade – to be a master of any trade one needs to master the knowledge of performing it or carrying it out. The nuances of a technology also remain the same as the uniqueness defines it. However, it is most interesting to note that there remains a substantial intellection of what knowledge can be treated to be a secret and protected, and what is valuable to the public domain to be made accessible to all as vital information. Furthermore, the protection of secrets cannot go unwarranted resulting in situations of undue monopoly and hence it is imperative to realize limitations. While guarding of commercial interests is the basic requirement for any business venture, at the same time monopoly produces negative overtones in the market. Furthermore, secrecy has to be starkly distinguished from the need of sharing information on a mass scale and need for technologies to be transferred and shared for the purpose of growth. Hence there are conflicting perspectives that need to be reconciled together. This paper attempts to analyze these situations in the light of the prevailing scenario in India and how an effective trade secret regime works.

Keywords: Knowledge, Secret Trade, Vital, Public domain, Intellection