In this highly competitive global environment, companies are primarily driven by the pursuit of profit. This paper is having a cross disciplinary approach of the Business Trade secret and the Intellectual property rights where, the companies are fundamentally characterised by their working nature they are classified into Service sector such like pharmaceutical sectors and the others are manufacturing and commercial sectors. The service sector, their major aim is to give better service to the people, whereas few companies are focused on the production and sales of goods i.e., the traditional aspect to earn the profits to the company.

The companies create a product that is Unique in nature which attracts majority of the people and that product's process or formula is generally not known to the general public where their properties are mostly kept highly secrets so that it's Integrity is not lost thus the companies have to take immense steps to keep the formula or any other process related to the product. In short a trade secret is any piece of knowledge that, if exposed to an opponent, may result in major monetary loss to its company and its shareholders and other board members.[1]

As there is no proper legislation India to govern the Trade secrets and there is no specific section to deal with respect to the trade secrets in any of the legislation there arises many problems such like recovering damages from any person and the major problems like deprivation of an efficient safeguarding procedures to govern and protect against any disclosure of trade secrets and other confidential information for any of the companies trade secrets. [2] \

The paper analyses if there is a need for an enactment of a separate legislature for the trade secrets to be enacted by the legislature or can it be incorporated under any of the existing legislations which are already dealing with trade secrets and Intellectual property law and the paper is also analysing which are the better methods and practices that are followed in the business and law field to safeguard the trade secrets of a company.

Introduction
In India trade secrets play a very important role and an important form in the intellectual property[3] but we have no specific legislation which can govern the Trade secrets of any of the company's products and their unique propositions. Basically, a Trade secret means that any formula, any process, any specific device or any of the official business information such like any of the chemical or non-chemical formulas, set of patterns, any of the compilations or any of the programs, methods and process are all classified under the business information that is kept highly confidential to have a competitive advantage over the opponents or the rivals.[4]

We can state that a new idea or a formula is just as similar to that of a property where the person who discovers or obtains it is deemed to be the possessor of it, thus its easy to think of the trade secret protection to support the possessors ownership, legal rights of the trade secrets to avoid it getting breached.

Basically, any company can declare a set of the business information's as mentioned above as a trade secret only if the company is highly getting profits and is generating a huge sum of capital and revenue and if the same data or the business information if publicly obtained then these generated revenues and profits might get reduced to a very large extent under these circumstances is one major criteria, along with these there are further more aspects that are to be considered with respect to deciding as to information as a trade secret are that it analysis as to up to what extent does the owner of the trade secret has taken the immense precaution to safeguard the trade secret along with this the next criteria is the amount of funds or money that is spent over the development of the formulas or the patterns that is not very familiar to the general public also matters and another major aspect which make an information the most valued as a secret is as to upon what rate can the competitors take to duplicate or replicate the same product or it is as that how much would it cost the competitors to acquire and duplicate it is what is makes an information as a secret or not a secret.[5]

Within the category of "confidential information," trade secrets fall. Although some Indian courts have treated "trade secret" and "confidential information" as interchangeable, other courts have drawn a clear line between the two and ruled that an employer's mundane, daily operations—which are known to many and are commonly known to others—are not trade secrets. The third set of standards talks about the amount of privacy. These are some of them:

majorly the criteria are as to how many people from outside of the company know about the information and how many people inside the company know about it, and how many security steps the CEO has put in place to keep the information safe. other criteria are as to what steps a company takes to make sure its information stays private can help you figure out if the information is a trade secret.

A trade secret is information that is used in business that is not open to the public. Under the Intellectual property right an secrecy of an information or the confidential information is said to be secrecy only if it is known by the owner and not any other person even if only one person is being informed either if it is a very close friend of the owner is known about the trade secret or the confidential information then it is automatically presumed by the Intellectual property right to state that the information is available in the public domain[6] and to avoid this the owners have to take immense precautions to safe guard the Trade secret or the Confidential information can be protected under multiple legal regimes which are discussed in the below because safeguarding strategy relies on their secrecy. A trade secret that is compromised through disclosure or theft may incur losses by losing its authenticity.[7]

Anyone who has access to information because they work for or are connected to the owner of the information may have an implied duty of secrecy or confidentiality, even if the owner hasn't said so directly in a contract or other written agreement. This is especially true if the information isn't available to the public or can be gotten from other sources.

The burden of proof shifts to the owner to prove two things:

1. That no one else knew the secret; other than the owner had access to the secret information.
2. The facts and circumstances of the parties' communications and other actions support the implied duty (as long as the secret information meets the other trademark requirements).[8]

To avoid these problems and difficulties, the paper will analysis the best practices that are followed in the Intellectual property rights management with respect to safeguarding the trade secrets and also analysis the practices which are followed globally and suggest which might be suitable for the Indian businesses. This paper tries analysis and suggest as to whether India needs a separate new legislation to govern the Trade secrets as its not enacted or governed in none of the existing legislations with respect to the Intellectual property rights management and trade secrets and many other problems are been discussed and a opt solution is tried to be provided in this Paper.

Research Problem:
How can India adapt and enhance its legal frameworks for trade secret protection by learning from global best practices and existing international legislations, and what impact does the current intellectual property law have on the preference of trade secrets over other forms of IP protection in companies, as evidenced through landmark court cases? Furthermore, what are the optimal strategies that companies can implement to safeguard their trade secrets within the realms of Intellectual Property Rights Management, without resorting to overly stringent measures against employees and members?

Research Questions:

1. A critical analysis of the currently existing global legislations for the protection of the trade secret. what legal aspects that are lacking with respect to India to safe guard the trade secrets?
2. Whether any of the major Legal Frameworks or any Best Practices followed in Intellectual Property Rights Management could be incorporated by the firms to safeguard their trade secrets in a manner so as to not take harsh steps over their employees and members?
3. Whether the intellectual property law has encouraged or discouraged the usage of the trade secrets for the companies over any forms of IP protection?

Objective Of The Paper:

1. To analysis best practices followed in the companies with respect to the Intellectual property rights management w.r.t the trade secret protects.
2. To analysis the global legal frame with respect to the trade secrets.

Research Methodology:
This paper is completely based on the secondary method of research approach where the data used are collected and analysed from the legal documents w.r.t the Intellectual property and trade secrets related document and other legislative texts, case laws of High Courts along with few case judgments of the honorable Supreme court of India along with Honorable Supreme court of America and other competent courts, existing literature from a selected website such like Jstor etc.

This research is conducted in such a manner where it provides a comprehensive understanding of the role trade secret and its protections across the various fields of the legal system offering an overview and outlines for the suggesting the best practices of IPR management.

Literature Review:

1. Trade Secret Protection Overview and Best Practices: An Examination of Optimal Methodologies and Proprietary Innovation Insurance Techniques. To safeguard sensitive information, Dentons provides a comprehensive evaluation of proprietary advantage security systems, best practices, and the implementation of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
    
2. Legal Protection of Trade Secrets via NDAs: Justia portrays the lawful structures overseeing the utilization of NDAs to safeguard proprietary innovations, including standard privacy periods and normal rejections from assurance.
    
3. Proprietary Advantages Guidelines 2018: This article discusses the incorporation of the EU Proprietary Innovations Mandate into UK regulation, explaining what a proprietary innovation is, how the new principles offer greater protection, and how they support cases for breach of trust. The paper also discusses specifics like the time limits for filing claims, steps to protect confidentiality during court proceedings, and penalties for infringement. It emphasizes the importance of these regulations in safeguarding proprietary advantages in the UK.
    
4. Beyond Trade Secrecy: Confidentiality Agreements That Act Like Non-Competes: YALE Law Journal article by Camilla A. Hrdy & Christopher B. Seaman on SSRN that examines the broader implications of confidentiality agreements and demonstrates that many of them can be nearly as restrictive as non-compete clauses.
    
5. Intellection of the Trade Secret and Innovation Laws in India: This study by Md Zafar Mahfooz Nomai of Aligarh University, published on ResearchGate, explores the intersection of antitrust laws in India and trade secrets, offering a fresh and original viewpoint on the matter by analyzing various aspects of contracts and other related subjects.
    
6. Protection of Trade Secrets and Undisclosed Information Law and Litigation: D.S. Sengar emphasizes that intellectual property rights are crucial for trade and industry development. Protecting trade secrets can be enforced under tort, contract, and criminal law. India needs to codify trade secret law, potentially based on common law courts or the Federal Trade Secrets Law of the USA.

Analysis:
Businesses main aim motive is to have a profit. When a products style, pattern is having a great impact over the society, generating a huge revenue to the company, the making of that product or company's practices is sometimes completely unknown to the general public where this is known as the trade secret. In the Business environment the trade secrets are highly confidential, where valuable pieces of the information set the business of the company very differentiated from that of the competitors in such case's there is a huge burden over the owner of a company to protect that trade secrets.

But in India there is no specific legislation to govern such the Trade secrets so we have to analysis what are the best possible frameworks and practices that are used globally so as to prove a better frame work for the Indian business to have a better option to secure their trade secrets.

Nature And Scope Of The Trade Secrets:

Basically, Intellectual property rights began to grown in the nineteenth century slowly comprises most of legislations such like the Trade mark Act, 1999; Patents Act, 1970; Copy rights Act, 1957 and many others are legislative enacted legislation with an intent to protect the products which are highly exclusive due to the creativity of the mind, which includes products which are based on Inventions, Literary works, Artistic works, products which are Novelty, and which are being utilised by the people or the product is being in a nature of utility, the symbols attached to the products which a customer can recognise as soon as he sees the symbol to a particular company and many others are included into this list that are protected by enactment of the Intellectual property Act.

In the Intellectual property law's, there is no explicit mention of the Trade secrets.[9] Yet the trade secrets fit under the category as they constitute to have a valuable, non-public information that provides a business to have a competitive edge as they include formulas, any process, any specific device or any of the official business information such like any of the chemical or non-chemical formulas, set of patterns, any of the compilations or any of the programs, methods and process are all classified under the business information that is kept highly confidential to have a competitive advantage over the opponents or the rivals[10], all of this form a small part of the NUNS test which is followed in issuing the Patents, this is where the Intellectual property law recognizes the importance and value of the intellectual i.e.,, the mind applicational creations and the rights of its creator to provide a better benefit to the creations and their creators.

The major aspect which differentiates it from the patents is that the information in the trade secret is of a nature where any information is completely unknown to the public and patents are completely known to the public[11] yet trade secrets are protected under the IP laws in various counties there by encouraging innovations which has given rise to new products and new innovations and ideas.

In India trade secrets form a part of the intellectual property laws yet the mechanism that are used to safeguard the trade secrets are followed as per the guidelines set by the law of Contracts specifically through the NDA (non-disclosure agreements) which is a legal document/ contract between 2 or more people that has few terms related to non-disclosure of the confidential material, knowledge or information that the parties know about a particular product. Other than the enforcement of NDA, no other forms of protections are used to safe guard the trade secrets. To reduce the dependency over the NDA there is a need to analysis various other global frameworks with respect to protection of the Trade secrets.

Intellectual Property Laws Aligning With The Trade Secrets

Organizations need proprietary innovations to safeguard their thoughts, strategies, creative works, items, and ability, which is really great for business. They don't restrict one another; all things considered, they function admirably together and help each other out.

The United States of America's Supreme Court quoted trade secrets can be used instead of patents and that protecting ideas that can be patented through trade secrets does not go against the patent policy of sharing in the U.S.A. When it comes to patents; patent laws, trade secrets are the first line of defense. They go before, with, and after patents. Patents now are stricter and more difficult to apply and get than that of trade secrets, but they don't need to be unique in the sense of patent law. The artificial person that owns a trade secret does not have a complete control over the data or the information that makes up the trade secret.[12]

Other people and businesses can also find out what the trade secret is by doing their own study and working hard. It is standard practice in business to look for and get patents on parts of a technology that can be protected by patents while keeping other information and data related to the technology secret. In almost all technology licenses, trade secrets are part of the deal. Trade secrets can make a license worth three to ten times as much as it would be without them. Trade secrets shall not be protected by copyright because there isn't a rule that stops people from obtaining them in a fraudulently mean. Also, we need to note that there is no section in the Copyright Act of 1957 that prevents any person from suing someone for breach of faith that trust.

There is no copyright pre-emption of misuse rule because of this. trade secrets and patents are important parts of intellectual property rights because they protect and help businesses. Patents are stricter and require more work, but trade secrets and patents can live together and get along because they serve different moral and business purposes.[13]

Global Level Frameworks To Protect The Trade Secrets

1. United States: Uniform Trade Secrets Act:
   Federal law in the United States says that a trade secret is "any knowledge that can be used in the running of a business or other venture and that is sufficiently valuable and hidden to offer a real or possible economic benefit over other[14] and with the revisions and a enactment made in 1985 to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) established a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of trade secrets.
   
   Principal attributes encompass comprehensive guidelines for calculating damages, which may encompass actual loss, unjust enrichment, or a reasonable royalty; precise definitions of terms such as "trade secret" and "misappropriation," provisions for injunctions to prevent trade secret misuse; and provisions for obtaining injunctions to prevent trade secret misuse.
   
   In addition, the Act stipulates that courts must maintain the confidentiality of trade secrets during litigation, permits the awarding of attorney fees in specific circumstances, and applies a three-year statute of limitations to claims of misappropriation. It includes provisions for severability and effective dates, specifies its impact on other legal remedies and criminal liabilities, and seeks to establish uniformity in trade secret law across states. In addition, the UTSA specifies the revocation of prior laws that were in conflict, ensuring consistency and clarity in the preservation of trade secrets.[15] To ensure maximum protection to the trade secrets the US courts have developed a special tort liability of misappropriation where the 3rd in case of misuses or obtain the trade secrets by a mode of a wrongful/ improper means[16], also any person is liable in cases where they disclose any of the confidential information or the trade secrets without any implied consent then he/she is committed a crime of torts and is liable for the punishment under the torts law.[17]
    
2. European Union Along With England; Wales And Scotland:
   The Trade Secrets Enforcement And Regulations Act 2018:
   The leading case law/ of the landmark cases in the areas of trade secrets and IPR law, showing how important it is to keep private-company information secure. Vestergaard Frandsen, a company that makes textiles for disease control, said that Bestnet Europe stole trade secrets from them by hiring former workers who then used the trade secret information to make a rival product. This was at the heart of the argument. This case shed light on a number of important issues, including how to protect and define trade secrets, how workers should handle such sensitive information even after they leave their jobs, and the legal options for people who steal trade secrets, such as injunctions and damages.
   
   In addition, the case showed how difficult it is to defend intellectual property rights across borders. The result not only strengthened the laws that protect trade secrets, but it also woke businesses up to the fact that they needed to put in place strict privacy rules and train their employees to keep their private information safe has changed how trade secrets are protected over time.[18] It all started with the court's inherent power to keep information hidden.
   
   This way of thinking lets judges change the law to fit the needs of modern society. It keeps a reasonable and fair balance between protecting trade secrets well and not getting in the way of competition in the market too much. The European Union has recently implemented the Proprietary Advantages Directive (EU) 2016/943. This directive serves to prevent unauthorised taking, use, or disclosure of proprietary advantages, including undisclosed business and specialised information.
   
   One of the principals aims of the Mandate is to ensure the smooth operation of the interior market by providing proprietors of proprietary technologies with an equitable means of acquiring equity in the event that their confidential information is unlawfully obtained, utilised, or disclosed. Diverse EU member states employ distinct methods to protect proprietary innovations. In order to address this issue, the Mandate offers a minimum level of protection to inquirers in cases where a proprietary innovation has been unlawfully seized or utilised.
   
   The aim is to establish a foundational battleground for all European organisations and enhance the clarity of the law. Between February 19 and Walk 16, 2018, the governing body convened a public specialised conference to deliberate on the implementation of the Mandate. The public authority submitted its response to the study on May 15, 2018, and on May 18, 2018, the guidelines were formally received by Parliament. Additionally, the public authority published a table titled "rendering" that illustrates whether and how the regulations have modified the components of the mandate.
   
   The Proprietary Advantages Guidelines of 2018 initiated the EU Proprietary Innovations Mandate, which reached its culmination on June 9, 2018. The standards are applicable exclusively in the United Kingdom and encompass the entire nation. The definition of a proprietary innovation is insufficient, and there is considerable room for debate regarding the clarity of its three components.[19]
   
   The term 'infringer' refers to an individual or entity that has unlawfully obtained, implemented, or distributed a proprietary technology; 'encroaching merchandise' denotes products whose design, functionality, marketing, or a component significantly benefits from a proprietary advantage that was unlawfully obtained, utilised, or distributed; and 'proprietary advantage holder' refers to an individual who lawfully possesses a proprietary technology.
   
   The EU finally enacted the Proprietary Innovations Mandate (EU) 2016/943 in order to ensure that all European organisations have an equitable opportunity to succeed and to clarify the law.
   
   There is considerable concern regarding the potential impact of the Proprietary Advantages (Implementation, etc.) Guidelines 2018 on the existing regulatory framework in the United Kingdom. The public authority has made an effort to clarify this connection by stating that it is illegal to obtain, utilise, or distribute a proprietary innovation if doing so compromises the confidentiality of private information.
   
   If a holder of a proprietary advantage requests and is granted remedies, methods, and processes that can be utilised in a breach of confidence case, the court may grant those remedies, methods, and processes so long as they provide the holder of the proprietary advantage greater protection against unauthorised acquisition, use, or disclosure of the proprietary advantage than what is provided by these guidelines, and are in accordance with the guarantees outlined in Article 1 of the Proprietary Information Act.[20]
   
   In the below there are few Articles and Regulations that are been discussed which form a pivotal role in The Trade secrets enforcement and regulation Act 2018:
   
   • Freedom of Speech and Movement (Article 1): Trade secret protection won't stop people from talking to each other or moving around for work, according to the law. The skills and information that employees have learned can still be used at work.
   • Time Limits for Filing a Claim: Businesses have six years to sue someone in England and Wales if they use your trade secret without your permission. You have five years in Scotland. The timer starts either on the day you learn about the misuse or on the day it actually happened, whichever comes first.
   • Court's Protective Measures (Reg 10(4)): A judge can take steps to protect businesses' trade secrets:
     • If it is part of a court case.
     • These steps could include keeping trade secrets papers secret so that only certain people can see them.
     • Restricting who can be at court meetings where the trade secrets might be shared.
     • Under controlled circumstances, letting certain people who aren't usually allowed to see the trade secret do so.
   • Court's Powers (Regs 11–15): The court has the power to order people to stop using trade secrets right away in case it's being misused or used for any illegal purposes. This means stopping the illegal action and either taking or returning the things that were used in the violation. Businesses can ask for compensation if someone has used or obtained the trade secrets without consent, causing loss to the business or affecting its reputation. The person responsible may be punished, fined, or asked to pay compensation to the business. Many other stricter laws are enforced to protect trade secrets in the United Kingdom and European Union.
      
3. Germany: (GESCH GEHG) Trade Secret Law:
   The Trade Secret Act (GeschGehG) stops people from getting, using, or disclosing trade secrets without permission. The act says that a trade secret is information that has business value and is hard for other people to get. A trade secret holder is any person or organisation that legally controls a trade secret. There may be more than one holder if the trade secret was legally obtained and control is exercised then in such instances it is presumed that the trade secret is an available in the public domain making it have no value.[22]
   
   In this case, the GeschGehG says that the user must take steps to keep the secret, and there is no legal description of how much a trade secret is worth in business. The GeschGehG doesn't say what safety measures must be taken, but the bare minimum is becoming clearer as time goes on.

People who own trade secret rights should think about best practices and internal rules to make sure their trade secrets are as safe as possible. Some of these are using Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) every time you share trade secrets with third parties, limiting access to trade secrets physically and electronically, and grouping trade secrets by how valuable and sensitive they are. Organisational processes that are written down help find and write down trade secrets, which determines the amount of protection needed.

Misappropriation of trade secrets includes getting into, taking, or stealing papers, objects, materials, substances, or electronic files without permission, as well as any behavior that goes against good business practices. Things that aren't considered misappropriation are independent finding, observation, investigation, removal, and legal acts.

Both the accuser and the offender have to prove their case in German civil courts when someone steals a trade secret. The person making the claim has to show that the trade secret meets the legal requirements and that the misappropriation act happened. The suspect must also show defenses like legally getting the trade secret or having had it before. In German courts, there is no such thing as discovery, but people can ask for an inspection of the scene of the crime before the hearing starts.

If it can be proven that a German court has territorial foreign jurisdiction, then events that happened outside of Germany can be taken into account. The Trade Secret Act lets people who steal or reveal trade secrets without permission file a number of legal claims.

These include injunctions, destruction, recalls, information claims, and fines. When a disagreement involves a trade secret, the court has power if the suspect lives in Germany or has a business in Germany. In Germany, regional courts are the only ones who can hear cases before regular courts in the first instance. However, federal states can give regional courts the power to hear cases before specialist courts. As a result of Regulation (EU), the German court has foreign authority.

Most cases follow the style and schedule of interlocutory injunctions, and a ruling is normally made within a couple of days. Usually, you have three years to file a claim for trade secret misappropriation, but you can't go back more than ten years. Anyone, legal or not, who illegally gets, uses, or shares a trade secret can be held secondary responsible. You can get and keep evidence from both offenders and third parties. Expert evidence can be used either automatically or after a party asks for it. During a lawsuit, trade secrets can be kept safe by marking information as confidential and only letting certain trustworthy people see it.[23]

Trade secret misappropriation claims can be defended in a number of ways, such as the claimant not using trade secrets, not following the law's requirements, not misappropriating trade secrets through their own efforts, relief prayers not being allowed under the rules, facts being contested, and statutory claims being thrown out. Costs for a trade secret theft claim depend on how much is at stake. Compared to other countries, possible costs are not too high. There are different ways to settle disagreements, like mediation, arbitration, or early review, that can be used to settle trade secret issues.

Liabilities like unfair competition are enforcement risks, but the German Unfair Trade Practices Act warns people not to spread false information about judgements or payments that have already been made. If someone gets help at first but then it is taken away, they have to pay the other side for their real losses. For trade secret theft, you can get a fair hearing, money to cover your losses, or repayment. In Germany, the Trade Secret Act (GeschGehG) gives either preliminary or final injunctions for stealing a trade secret, based on how quickly the accuser needs them.

According to the German Civil Code, damages are given out. Usually, damages are real, which can include damages for bad behavior. Other legal measures include demands to stop doing what you're doing, claims for money losses, and demands to be told about or given information about the things you did that were made possible by the theft. Physical people can be punished criminally, and they will be punished if they intentionally stole something.

Under German Administrative Law, there are no administrative options. The GeschGehG was made law in 2019 and makes it easier to protect trade secrets, but it may also make it harder to do so. The legislature lets the judges to have more freedom by not just having to follow certain legal claims if doing so would be unfair in a specific case.[24]

Practices In Ipr Management With Respect To Trade Secrets That Can Be Optimum To Firms

As already specified in the above one of the major motives of the businesses is Profits. To capture the human market to increase their sales and to have a more competitive advantage over their competitors they have taken a steps to keep the trade practices, formulas, designees and many other information such like, their valuable and most important list of their loyal customers, their working algorithms, patterns of the successful products, techniques and practices to achieve a competitive advantage over the others all are chosen to be kept as a secret as much as possible to have a competitive advantage in the market.[25] To maintain and succeeded to protect the trade secrets the main practices that can followed are:

• Human Resource Training to Maintain the Secrecy: The firm has to conduct regular training which imparts a sense of do's and don'ts to their employees who are in close contact with the trade secrets. The firms have to train their employees to not reveal the company's trade secrets and also the company has to warn their employees of the consequences of disclosing the trade secrets repeatedly to ensure a sense of responsibility not to reveal the trade secrets of the firm.
   
• To Have a High Caliber Cyber Security:
  • Protection from Externalities: The firms who store vital information on computers must opt for higher protection of cyber security to ensure safety from all kinds of cyber-attacks such as ransomware, hacking, web jacking, and other forms of attacks. The firms need to install robust firewall encryption to protect their cloud storage servers and similar systems.
     
  • Protection from Internal Environment: The firms must use strong passwords to access devices containing trade secrets and enable two-factor authentication for additional security. Data must be encrypted, with decryption codes accessible only by top-level management to ensure better protection. Additionally, companies should incorporate blockchain technologies to enhance security and gain a competitive advantage, boosting internal safety.
     
• HRM's Roles in Safeguarding the Trade Secrets: This is a major process where firms need to invest resources and time to secure trade secrets, especially for employees working closely with them. There must be stringent security checks and controlled access to devices to prevent unauthorized data sharing. Firms should conduct rigorous audits to control data breaches and perform thorough exit interviews to ensure trade secrets are not publicly disclosed.
   
• Outside Vendors: Trade secret secrecy must be strictly enforced in contracts with other parties. When outsourcing any manufacturing processes, it is advisable to choose alternative suppliers for various components. Keep the finished products and the relationships between components confidential.

These are few managerial policies and factors that the company has to inculcate in its daily business practices to have a stronger protection and IPR practices for the Trade secrets which have a high level of commercial value such like that of aeriated drink formula, successful competitive strategies where the company with the help of the above methods can keep the trade secrets confidential[27]to have a better competitive advantage over the other dominant players in the market.

Conclusion
In India, trade secret protection is in early stages; therefore, special legislation codifying trade secret law principles is not yet in place. In the context of whole world, trading secrets are kept in high security, information that sets a company apart from that of the other companies and can be used to gain a competitive edge. Intellectual property rights, such as the Trade Mark Act, Patents Act, and Copyright Act, protect these secrets by encouraging innovation and promoting new products and ideas.

In India, trade secrets are part of intellectual property laws but are protected through non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Trade secrets and patents are important parts of intellectual property rights, as they protect and help businesses. While patents are stricter and more difficult to apply and obtain, trade secrets can be used as a first line of defense. Trade secrets can make a license worth three to ten times more than without them, and they are not protected by copyright. Global frameworks and practices should be considered to provide better options for Indian businesses to secure their trade secrets.

The United States' Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) established an extensive legal framework for safeguarding trade-secrets, including by setting-up guidelines for calculating damages, precise definitions of terms, and set of provisions for injunctions to prevent misuse. The Act also stipulates that courts must maintain confidentiality during litigation and applies a three-year statute of limitations to claims of misappropriation. The US courts have developed a special tort liability of misappropriation, and any person who discloses confidential information without implied consent is liable for punishment under torts law.

The European Union, along with England, Wales, and Scotland, has implemented the Proprietary Advantages Directive (EU) 2016/943, which aims to prevent unauthorised taking, use, or disclosure of proprietary advantages. The EU Proprietary Innovations Mandate, which aims to ensure fair competition in the market, has been criticized for its unclear definition of a proprietary innovation and its potential impact on the existing regulatory framework in the UK.

The Trade Secrets Enforcement and Regulation Act 2018 in Germany aims to protect trade secrets by ensuring freedom of speech and movement, time limits for filing claims, court protective measures, and court powers. The Act prohibits the use of trade secrets without permission, and businesses have six years in England and Wales to sue someone for misuse. Courts can take protective measures, such as keeping trade secrets confidential, restricting access to court meetings, and allowing certain people to see them under controlled circumstances.

The Act also allows businesses to ask for compensation if a trade secret is misused or used illegally. To ensure the protection of trade secrets, best practices and internal rules are used, such as using Non-Disclosure Agreements, limiting access, and grouping them by value.

Trade secret misappropriation claims can be defended through various methods, including not using trade secrets, following the law, not misappropriating trade secrets through personal efforts, relief prayers, contested facts, and statutory claims. Costs for trade secret theft claims vary, but in Germany, the Trade Secret Act (GeschGehG) provides preliminary or final injunctions for stealing trade secrets. The German Civil Code provides damages, including real damages for bad behavior and demands for compensation.

Companies can also be punished criminally for intentionally stealing trade secrets. To maintain trade secret protection, businesses should conduct human resource training, implement high-level cyber security, maintain strong passwords, and implement 2-factor authentication. HR plays a crucial role in safeguarding trade secrets, investing resources and time in security checks, audits, and knowledge transfer. Trade secret secrecy is strictly enforced in contracts with other parties.

Suggestion:
We could see that the trade secrets evolved from the 19th century[28] Trade secrets can be accessible for both patentable and non-patentable information and products used in the firm. Having very few features in terms of patents and patent laws, only when it meets the requirements of the NUN, or novelty rule, which states that any product, information, or pattern that has been incorporated into the information must be not known to general public and unique, meaning it cannot have been discovered by anyone else in the world.

The second criteria are utility, where new knowledge, products, or patterns must be developed not just so that they are unknown to others but also so that they may be fully used by individuals. The following standards the next criteria are the non-obviousness when a person or an expert in the specific area that of the product/information is of would not find the product to be obvious to them. This all criteria are taken into consideration at the time of patenting a product under the Patent Act of 1970 in India.[29]

Having these factors the business has given a choice to either opt for the Patents or the keep the information as a secret or confidential in nature. But the problem for the Indian business is that they cannot opt to have both i.e., they cannot patent their product and keep its regarding formation a secret as the patent law mandates the disclosure of that products information and the key moto of the trade secrets is to keep the information in confidential.

The major characteristics for this 2 are that the trade secrets are valid for an indefinite period providing highly competitive advantage over the competitors but the patents are available for the 20 years as per the patents Act providing indefinite protection from being wrongfully replicated or its creator has the whole and sole ownership of the product no other person can claim rights over that.[30]

Few advantages of Patenting over a Trade secret are that in India there is no specific legislation to govern the Trade secrets from being wrongful obtained by other person or from being getting theft if in case where the information gets out of the custody of the owner and it gets available in the public domain then it loses its authenticity where as a patents even in case it's been stolen or Is obtained by an wrongful means then it will be in such a state where the owner can gain the access back over the product or the information where its authenticity is not lost as been protected by the Patents Act. In such cases the high protection of the Trade secrets plays a very important role and its authenticity and its value is highly volatile in the research conducted in US, they found that the expected life of the authenticity of a trade secret is almost only for a period of 12 years.[31]

There are instances also like in case of Coca Cola where it servers to be one of the best company to maintain and have a high competitive edge over their competitors by securing their trade formula known as "Merchandise 7X" the formula that is used to create the famous soft-drink Coca cola has been kept secret for more than 130 years.[32] Here are few instances where trade secrets are more efficient than that of the patents but it requires a lot of capital and security to secure that trade secrets.

India also known as the "hub" of start-ups. Most of the companies, individuals or start-up's develop new products, some of which may contain information that they wish to keep as trade secrets, but they are helpless to do so because there is no dedicated legislation enacted to protect trade secrets. To protect their trade secrets from theft or infringement, they must raise a significant amount of money, which puts a heavy financial burden on the business and increases the likelihood that it will fail within a short period of The Indian legislature must draft and approve a measure before it can become law. This bill helps regulate trade secrets in India, allowing Indian entrepreneurs and enterprises to choose to use trade secrets instead of just patenting them.

When legislatures are in place to regulate and enforce rules for the legal framework, trade secrets may be protected for very little money. Thus, there is a need for India to enact the laws with respect to the trade secrets. Trade secrets in India are safeguarded under common law provisions, lacking legislative protection. On the contrary, India, as an adhering to the TRIPS Agreement, is obliged to provide undisclosed forms of protection, the trade secrets of which are delegated to the member states.

A sui generis (unique in its characteristic) mechanism may be established in accordance with Article 1(0) of the Paris Convention and Article 3 of the TRIPS Agreement.[33] In order to strengthen and increase trade secret protection and provide assistance to business industries, India stands to gain substantially by analysing strategies implemented in the European Union, Germany, and the United States. It is essential to establish a comprehensive legal framework comparable to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act of the United States.

In addition to defining trade secrets and misappropriation with precision, this framework should provide comprehensive directives for legal redress, such as injunctions and damages. Similar to the objective of the UTSA, consistency among Indian states would benefit businesses operating on a national scale. Further, India ought to priorities the development of cross-border enforcement mechanisms, taking guidance from precedent-setting EU cases such as Vestergaard Frandsen v. Bestnet Europe.[34]

Establishing a uniform standard for trade secret protection through the implementation of a directive or regulation, similar to the Trade Secrets Directive of the European Union, can guarantee an equitable environment for all enterprises. Providing explicit definitions and guidelines for the management of trade secrets, especially in the context of employment; emphasising preventive measures, as Germany does; and striking a balance between trade secret protection and healthy market competition are additional crucial steps.

India ought to contemplate the implementation of educational initiatives that emphasises the significance of trade secrets, establish legal frameworks that offer civil and criminal penalties for misappropriation, promote partnerships with other nations on an international level, and consistently revise legislation to account for technological progressions.

Critical measures also include fostering self-regulation, providing alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, establishing specialised courts, collaborating with the public and private sectors, maintaining transparency, establishing a framework for employee mobility, fortifying law enforcement, ensuring adherence to international standards, integrating trade secret protection into the wider intellectual property regime, providing incentives for innovation, and providing support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The implementation of these strategies in concert has the potential to establish a strong framework for safeguarding trade secrets in India, which is vital for fostering innovation, enticing foreign investment, and advancing equitable and competitive business conduct.

End Notes:

1. Linde v Kerr (1991) 1 All E.R. 418
2. Trade Secret Protection in India: The Policy Debate, By Chandni Raina, Professor, Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, September 2015
3. Legal Protection of Trade Secrets via NDAs i.e., Non-Disclosure Agreements Legally Protecting Trade Secrets, Justia, 8:17 pm IST of 9th January 2024.
4. Tata Motors Limited & Anr Vs state of Bengal
5. Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Co Ltd Vs Mehar Karan Singh (2010 (112) BomLr 375)
6. Intellectual property law, 4th Edition, Oxford, Lionel Bently Brad Sherman, Part V - Confidential information, Is the information capable of being protected? Page 1143.
7. Beyond Trade Secrecy: Confidentiality Agreements That Act Like Noncompete, YALE LAW JOURNAL, 2023, Camilla A. Hrdy& Christopher B. Seaman
8. Supra 3
9. Intellectual property laws, Professionals, Bare Act with short comments, 2024.
10. Supra 4
11. Towards an Integrated Theory of Intellectual Property Gideon Parchomovsky, Peter Siegelman Virginia Law Review, Vol. 88, No. 7 (Nov., 2002), pp. 1455-1528
12. Sengar, D. S. (2011). Protection of trade secrets and undisclosed information: law and litigation. Journal of the Indian Law Institute, 53(2), 254–274. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43953505
13. Ibid
14. Restatement of the law (Third), unfair competition.
15. Uniform trade secrets act with 1985 amendments, national conference of commissioners on uniform state laws
16. Improper means includes Theft, Misrepresentation, Breach, Bribery, breach of duty to maintain the secrecy, computer hacking and unauthorised interception of the communication is as defined under the American Restatement of Laws.
17. Supra 12
18. Vestergaard Frandsen A/s vs Bestnet Europe Ltd, [2013] UKSC 31, UKSC 2011/0144, 22 MAY 2013, supremecourt.uk.
19. The Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc) Regulations 2018, PAUL GOULDING QC, Blackstone Chambers and TONI LORENZO, Lewis Silkin
20. Supra 13
21. The trade secrets enforcement and regulations act 2018, www.legislation.gov.uk, [15 January 2024, 8:01 IST.]
22. Supra 6
23. Lex ology - Law Business Research, Trade secrets in Germany by Cohausz and Florack, October 19 2022, [15th January 2024, 11:10PM IST]
24. Supra 17
25. Protecting trade secrets, taylar-simone McCants J.D., August 01, 2023, Findlaw.com [24th January 2024, 7:55AM IST]
26. Ibid
27. Theories of intellectual property, IP Theories, Berkman Klein Centre For Internet & Society, William Fisher, Research institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts
28. Robert G Bone, A New look at trade Secret law: Doctrine in Search of Justification, 86 cal.L.Rev.241, 247(1998) (discussing the origin of the trade secret law).
29. ipindia.gov.in, patents act, 1970, Intellectual property India, 9:20am IST 18th January 2024.
30. Ibid.
31. Parchomovsky, G., & Siegelman, P. (2002). Towards an Integrated Theory of Intellectual Property. Virginia Law Review, 88(7), 1455–1528. https://doi.org/10.2307/1073990.
32. www.coca-cola.com, the coca cola company, Is the Coca‑Cola formula kept secret because the company has something to hide?, [18TH JANUARY 2024, 3:21pm IST,]
33. BRAMSON, R. S. (1981). Intellectual Property as Collateral — Patents, Trade Secrets, Trademarks and Copyrights. The Business Lawyer, 36(4), 1567–1604. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40686311.
34. Supra 18.