Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Pierre Albouy. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

ICCE’s Dr Nicola Searle, Senior Lecturer and Digital Economy Fellow, recently spoke at the World Intellectual Property Office’s (WIPO), a UN agency, international Symposium on Trade Secrets and Innovation in Geneva.

Dr. Searle presented her work on the economics of trade secrets, where she highlighted the role of trade secrets in encouraging innovation and supporting economic growth. She discussed her recent paper in Computers & Security, written with Professor Atin Basuchoudhary, entitled Snatched Secrets: Cybercrime and Trade Secrets Modelling a firm’s decision to report a theft of trade secrets. The paper develops the role of trade secret policy in innovation and links the cybercrime literature with the economics of trade secrets. Modelling the interaction between a trade secret owner and the government, the paper finds against mandatory reporting procedures for cyber breaches of trade secrets.

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Pierre Albouy. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

The Symposium brought together lawyers, economists, businesses and policymakers from around the world to discuss changes to trade secrets, policy developments and the growing importance of trade secrets to firms. With fellow panelists, Dr. Searle discussed recent developments in trade secret policy and their potential impact on innovation. It is anticipated that economies throughout the world will expand the use of trade secrets and their legal protection. However, as, by definition, trade secrets are secret, little is known about this important facet of intellectual property.

You can read more about the WIPO Symposium on Trade Secrets and Innovation and access presentations, including a video recording of the event.

More of Dr. Searle’s work is available on Goldsmiths Research Online.