Trade secrets may be the least understood intellectual property. As a result, they tend to get the least attention, even in businesses that may otherwise aggressively protect their patentable inventions, trademarks, and copyrights. Often, trade secrets are not even recognized as such, so that their worth and significance may be overlooked entirely. Yet trade secrets, properly maintained, can be valuable properties and important business assets.

In the United States, Trade Secrets differ from other intellectual property in that the law governing the protection of them is primarily a matter for the individual states. In contrast, patents and copyrights are strictly federal matters, and, although there are state trademark registries and laws governing trademarks used only in intra-state commerce, federal registration and regulation of trademarks used in interstate commerce almost always supersede state trademark laws and regulation. Not so with Trade Secrets, for which there is no nationwide registry -- else they would not be secret any longer -- nor any overriding federal protection.

State, rather than federal, governance of an area of law can carry the threat of confusion and conflict from locale to locale. However, although there are differences among the various states regarding trade secret protection, this protection is universally based on the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

For everyone involved in a business of any kind, there are distinct advantages to identifying and properly maintaining trade secrets. This section addresses the basic questions surrounding them:

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