Trade Secret Laws and Privacy in

Cyber Law
Faculty: Assistant Professor Ms.
Prachi Dongare
 Trade Secret Laws
• - Definition of Trade Secrets: Confidential information
that gives a business a competitive advantage.

• - Key Elements of Trade Secrets:

• 1. The information is not publicly known.
• 2. The business takes steps to keep it secret.
• 3. The information provides an economic advantage.
• - Importance of Protecting Trade Secrets:
• - Prevents competitors from copying or using valuable
information without permission.
 Trade Secret Laws
• - Example: Coca-Cola's formula is a famous trade
secret.
• - Legal Framework for Trade Secrets Protection:
Protected by laws like the Uniform Trade Secrets Act
(UTSA).
 Key Intellectual Property Issues
• - Types of Intellectual Property (IP):
• 1. Patents: Protect inventions.
• 2. Copyrights: Protect creative works such as books,
music, films.
• 3. Trademarks: Protect symbols, logos, and brand
names.
• 4. Trade Secrets: Protect confidential business
information.
 Key Intellectual Property Issues
• - Common IP Issues in the Digital Age:
• - Copyright infringement, trademark violations,
patent disputes.

• - Challenges in IP Enforcement Online:

• - The internet allows for easy copying and
distribution, making enforcement difficult.
• - Example: Software piracy is a common issue in
digital intellectual property rights.
 Plagiarism
• - Definition: Using someone else’s work or ideas without
giving proper credit.

• - Types of Plagiarism:
• 1. Direct Plagiarism: Copying text word-for-word.
• 2. Self-Plagiarism: Reusing your own previous work without
permission.
 Self-Plagiarism
• Reusing Work Without Proper Citation:
1. If you submit the same work (or parts of it) for different
assignments, publications, or projects without acknowledging
that it has been used before, it constitutes self-plagiarism.

• Forms of Self-Plagiarism:
1. Recycling Assignments: Submitting the same essay or paper
for different courses without informing the instructors.
Duplicate
2. Duplicate Publication: Publishing the same research findings
in multiple journals without disclosing that it has been
published elsewhere.
 Self-Plagiarism
• Why Is It a Problem?
1. Self-plagiarism can mislead readers or evaluators into thinking
the work is original or newly created when it is not.
2. It can also give the impression that the author is artificially
inflating their number of publications or contributions.

• How to Avoid Self-Plagiarism:

1. Always cite your own previous work if you are building upon or
referencing it in new submissions.
2. If you're submitting similar work to different places, inform the
parties involved (like professors or editors) and seek their
permission if necessary.
 Plagiarism
• - Academic vs. Professional Plagiarism:
• - In academics, it can lead to failing a course or expulsion.
• - In professional settings, it can lead to loss of reputation or
legal action.
• - Consequences: Legal penalties, academic failure, damage to
professional reputation.
• - Example: Alex Haley’s famous plagiarism case regarding his
book Roots-The Saga of an American Family
 Privacy: The Right of Privacy
• - Definition: Privacy is the right to keep personal information secure and
not exposed without consent.
• - Importance: In the digital age, personal data is collected and shared
widely, making privacy more important than ever.
• - Legal Protections for Privacy: Laws like the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) protect personal data and give individuals control
over how their data is used.
• - Example: GDPR requires websites to inform users about data
collection and get their consent before storing personal information.
(European citizens )
• Currently, India is in the process of enacting a more robust data
protection law called the Digital Personal Data Protection Act,
2023 (DPDP Act)
 Privacy Protection
• - Mechanisms for Privacy Protection:
1. - Encryption: Scrambles data to make it unreadable to
unauthorized users.
2. - Anonymization: Removing personal identifiers from data.
3. - Data Minimization: Collecting only the necessary data.
• - Data Protection Laws:
• - GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): Protects
personal data in the European Union.
• - CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act): Protects the
personal information of California residents.
• - Organizations’ Responsibilities: Companies must secure
data, inform users, and obtain consent before using personal
information.
Key Privacy and K-Anonymity Issues
• - K-Anonymity: A technique that ensures that a
person cannot be identified in a dataset.
• - Importance: It allows organizations to analyze data
while protecting the identities of individuals.
• - Example: K-Anonymity is used in healthcare data to
prevent patient identities from being exposed while
sharing medical data for research purposes.
 Identity Theft
• - Definition: Identity theft occurs when someone
steals personal information to commit fraud.
• - Types of Identity Theft:
• 1. Financial Identity Theft: Stealing credit card
information.
• 2. Criminal Identity Theft: Using someone’s identity
when arrested.
• 3. Medical Identity Theft: Using someone else’s
health insurance.
 Identity Theft
• - Methods Used by Identity Thieves: Phishing, data
breaches.
• - Preventing Identity Theft: Use strong passwords,
avoid sharing personal information online, monitor
your accounts for suspicious activity.
• - The Indian IT Act, 2000: In India, this law
provides a legal framework to deal with identity theft
and cybercrimes, including sections that address the
misuse of personal data.
 Consumer Profiling
• - What is Consumer Profiling?
-The practice of using data to create profiles of
consumers’ preferences and behaviors.
• - Uses: Companies use profiling to target ads and
products based on individual interests and habits.
• - Ethical Concerns: Privacy issues arise when consumers
are unaware of how their data is being collected and used.
• - Example: Targeted advertising based on browsing
history, where companies display ads for products you’ve
recently searched for online.
Research paper
Research Paper
 Q-1
• Question: Imagine you are a manager at a tech
company, and a former employee is about to
join a competitor. The employee has access to
critical, confidential information about your
upcoming product launch. What legal or
protective measures can you take to prevent
the employee from disclosing trade secrets to
the competitor?
 Q1-Ans
• Answer: You can enforce a non-disclosure agreement
(NDA) signed by the employee during their tenure,
which legally binds them from sharing any
confidential information. Additionally, you can
remind them that disclosing trade secrets would be a
violation of trade secret laws like the Uniform Trade
Secrets Act (UTSA), and you may take legal action if
any breach occurs.
 Q-2
• Question :A student submits an assignment
that contains several paragraphs copied
directly from an online source without citation.
The instructor suspects plagiarism. What
should the instructor do, and what
consequences could the student face if the
plagiarism is confirmed?
 Q2-Ans
• Answer: The instructor should use plagiarism
detection software to verify if the content is
copied. If confirmed, the student could face
penalties such as failing the assignment,
receiving a lower grade, or even facing
academic disciplinary action depending on the
institution’s policy on plagiarism.
 Q-3
• Question: A company collects personal data
from its website users without clearly
informing them. This data includes their
browsing habits and personal preferences.
What privacy laws might the company be
violating, and what steps should it take to
comply with privacy regulations?
 Q3-Ans
• Answer: The company might be violating
privacy laws like the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) or the California
Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which require
organizations to inform users about data
collection and obtain their consent. To comply,
the company should implement a clear privacy
policy, seek user consent before collecting
data, and allow users to opt-out if they choose.
 Q-4
• Question: A retail company uses its
customers’ browsing and purchasing data to
send them targeted ads without informing
them. A customer feels uncomfortable after
noticing the personalized ads and questions the
ethicality of this practice. What ethical issues
are involved, and what should the company do
to address these concerns?
 Q4-Ans
• Question: The ethical issues include a lack of
transparency and user consent in how the
company is collecting and using personal data.
To address these concerns, the company
should inform customers about data collection
practices, obtain explicit consent for using
their data for profiling, and provide an option
for customers to opt-out of personalized
advertising.
Thank you!!