Do trade secrets expire, and if so, under what conditions?

Trade secrets do not have a fixed duration and are protected as long as they remain secret and provide a competitive advantage. The correct answer is that they expire upon discovery or loss. This means that trade secrets can become public knowledge if they are independently discovered, reverse-engineered, or if the holder fails to take reasonable steps to maintain their confidentiality, such as not properly securing the information or allowing it to be disclosed inadvertently.

For example, if a company has a proprietary formula but does not take steps to keep it confidential, and that formula is independently discovered by a competitor, the trade secret protection is lost. Trade secrets are maintained through secrecy, and when they are disclosed or become known to others without any confidentiality obligations, their protection is forfeited. This characteristic distinguishes trade secrets from patents, which have a specific duration and require public disclosure for protection.

While trade secrets can be temporarily shielded through non-disclosure agreements or other means, the fundamental rule is that once they are no longer secret or have been disclosed, the protections that trade secret laws provide will cease to apply.