“Protect it properly, or lose it permanently.”
Editor's note
Describe your formula, process, dataset, or know-how. Identify mode runs the classic three-factor analysis (secrecy, economic value, reasonable measures) and outputs a prioritized protection checklist plus a patent-route comparison. Evaluate mode assesses the business value and damage exposure of an existing trade secret. AI-generated analysis — have counsel review before relying on it.
Tagged
§ Section I
Identify mode answers "can this qualify as a trade secret?"; Evaluate mode answers "how valuable is it and what's the damage if it leaks?". Then describe the asset — a formula, algorithm, process, dataset, customer list, or know-how — including how it was built and who has access.
Say whether the information has been published, demoed, or partially disclosed, and list any protections already in place — NDAs, access controls, repository restrictions. These two inputs drive the secrecy and reasonable-measures factors that decide eligibility.
Identify mode returns a three-factor analysis, an eligibility verdict, a prioritized protection checklist, and a trade-secret-vs-patent comparison. Evaluate mode returns value drivers, a leak damage scenario, and proportional recommendations. Implement the high-priority measures, then have an IP attorney review before relying on the analysis.
§ Section II
Before a fundraise or partnership, identify what in your stack actually qualifies for trade secret protection and close the cheap, high-priority gaps — NDAs, access controls — before due diligence exposes them.
You built an algorithm, pipeline, or dataset that gives the company an edge. Check whether it can be protected as a trade secret and what handling discipline that requires from the team day to day.
Recipes, supplier terms, processes, customer lists — classic trade secrets that small businesses rarely protect properly. Get a proportional checklist instead of either ignoring the risk or over-engineering it.
Walk into the IP attorney meeting with structure: a draft three-factor analysis, your current protections mapped, and specific questions — making the billable hours count.
§ Section III
No. The tool produces an AI-generated analysis to orient you and structure the conversation with counsel — it is not legal advice and creates no attorney-client relationship. Trade secret law varies by jurisdiction, and the stakes justify a real attorney before you rely on any conclusion.
Broadly consistent across the US Defend Trade Secrets Act, the EU Trade Secrets Directive, and similar regimes: (1) the information is not generally known or readily ascertainable, (2) it derives independent economic value from being secret, and (3) the owner takes reasonable measures to keep it secret. Fail any one and protection collapses.
It depends on the asset. Patents require public disclosure and expire (~20 years) but protect against independent invention. Trade secrets last as long as secrecy holds and cost nothing to register, but offer no protection if someone reverse-engineers or independently develops the same thing. The tool compares both routes for your specific asset.
Courts look for proportional effort: NDAs with employees and partners, need-to-know access restrictions, marking documents confidential, exit procedures for departing employees, and technical controls on repositories and systems. The generated checklist prioritizes the gaps in what you described.
Your input is processed to generate the analysis and stored in your task history, which only you can access; results expire automatically (7 days free / 30 days paid). For maximum caution, describe the asset's nature and business role without including the actual secret itself — the analysis works on the description level.