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trade secret
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business information kept secret to gain or maintain a competitive advantage
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Encyclopedic overview
A trade secret is a type of intellectual property that protects a formula, process, or other business information that is valuable because it is not generally known or readily ascertainable and that the owner keeps secret in order to maintain a competitive advantage. Well-known examples of trade secrets include the formula for Coca-Cola, the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the formula for Zildjian bronze cymbals.
Unlike other forms of intellectual property, trade secrets normally do not require formal registration, and they can remain protected indefinitely as long as they continue to meet the legal requirements for trade secret status. Instead, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), among other measures, are commonly used to keep the information secret.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “trade secret” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.