*Electronic copy only (pdf)

Trade secrets and the law of confidence are available as intellectual property rights in software, in addition to copyright, patents and contractual protection.

Objectives:

• To use the law of confidence to protect those aspects of a computer program which are not generally known
• To impose obligations of confidence on staff, users and others having access to confidential information about computer programs
• To avoid allowing such information to fall into the public domain by becoming generally known
• To avoid breaching third party rights in confidential information relating to computer programs

*This Legal Guidance Note is only available as a pdf, which will be sent as an email attachment.