Law panel head bats for robust legal framework in India to protect trade secrets

New Delhi: Law Commission chairman Justice (retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi on Wednesday pitched for a robust legal framework to protect trade secrets in the country, saying India lacks specific law on the issue.

He also said the legal landscape surrounding trade secrets in India has evolved through case laws leading to variations and inconsistencies in its application.

Addressing a seminar on protection of trade secrets and economic espionage here, he said the reliance on judicial precedents underscores the need for a more comprehensive and structured legal framework to ensure consistent protection of trade secrets in India.

Justice Awasthi, who had been the chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, also delved into the intricate nature of safeguarding trade secrets within intellectual property, emphasising their unique characteristics compared to other forms of IP.

He also explored the evolving significance of trade secrets in the modern economy, the challenges in defining and protecting them effectively and the crucial call for robust legal structures to ensure their protection.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Law Commission and industry body Assocham.

He observed that the term trade secrets lacks a precise or universally agreed upon definition encompassing a wide array of information that may be technical or commercial in nature. These secrets, he noted, consist of confidential business data whose value stems from their secrecy.

Unlike other types of intellectual property with definite durations, trade secrets can be safeguarded indefinitely.

"Presently, India lacks specific legislation indicated to the protection of trade secrets. Instead, trade secrets are safeguarded under the general laws governing contracts, common law, principles of breach of confidence and equity, as well as provisions of criminal law," he noted.