What type of information is not protected by trade secret law?

Trade secret law is meant to protect valuable information that gives a business a competitive edge. However, not all types of information are protected. In California, a trade secret must meet the following legal criteria to be protected from disclosure: First, the trade secret must be reasonably unknown outside the business. That means even if the information is not broadly available, it must be known to some degree in the public domain to be unprotected. Second, the information must have commercial value. That means the trade secret must provide an economic advantage over competitors who do not have access to the information. Third, the owner of the trade secret must have taken reasonable measures to keep the information secret. That could include locking documents in a secure location or by restricting who can access them. In California, information that does not meet the criteria is not protected by trade secret law. Examples of unprotected information include ideas in the public domain, concepts known to competitors, and information that can easily be reverse engineered. Additionally, information that is misused or obtained unlawfully is also not protected.

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