Unveiling the facets of secrecy: A balance between trade secret protection and the public interest paradigm

Despite being one of the intellectual property rights, the right to undisclosed information or trade secrets is not treated expressly in the Intellectual Property Code or some other comprehensive piece of legislation. The Philippine Supreme Court has however noted that the protection of trade secrets is evident in other laws. An evaluation of the current status of trade secret protection under the Philippine legal system yields to the conclusion that protection of trade secrets is not as absolute as commonly perceived.A public interest paradigm is herein formulated to highlight the prevailing view of the concept and serve as a model or framework against which the concept of trade secret protection may be considered. Clothing trade secrets with the character of a private proprietary right and recognition that it must be protected in the name of competition should not exclude consideration of its overall significance in the scheme of rights and duties. The proponent suggests that certain standards be considered in resolving the protection-disclosure conflict, particularly on the issue of health and/or environment.The evaluation of the current status of trade secret protection, the public interest paradigm, as well as a more appropriate definition of what constitutes a trade secret, form the basis of a Framework on Philippine Trade Secret Protection.