Van Overwalle, Geertrui --- "Uncorking Trade Secrets: Sparking the Interaction between Trade Secrecy and Open Biotechnology" [2011] ELECD 552; in Dreyfuss, C. Rochelle; Strandburg, J. Katherine (eds), "The Law and Theory of Trade Secrecy" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: The Law and Theory of Trade Secrecy

Editor(s): Dreyfuss, C. Rochelle; Strandburg, J. Katherine

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847208996

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Uncorking Trade Secrets: Sparking the Interaction between Trade Secrecy and Open Biotechnology

Author(s): Van Overwalle, Geertrui

Number of pages: 21

Extract:

11 Uncorking trade secrets: sparking
the interaction between trade secrecy
and open biotechnology
Geertrui Van Overwalle*


INTRODUCTION

`Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.' This quote from
Benjamin Franklin reflects well the delicate, if not impossible attempt to
share a secret. Sharing secrets, however, is of vital importance. Translated
in legal parlance, the exchange of trade secrets may be essential to the oper-
ation and further development of patented inventions. Beyond the infor-
mation disclosed in patents, users might need to acquire complementary
know-how in order to make the patented technology function optimally.1
The exchange of patented inventions and related know-how often takes
place through bilateral or cross-licenses. Our previous research examined
the role of collaborative licensing models in streamlining access and use of
patents, specifically in the field of genetics.2 The present chapter examines
the potential role of collaborative licensing models in facilitating the trans-
fer of related trade secrets. The central question, around which the chapter


* Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Leuven, Belgium;
Professor of Patent Law and New Technologies, University of Tilburg, the
Netherlands. The present research was supported by the Sixth Framework
Programme of the European Union (Eurogentest) and the Vancraesbeeck Fund
(K.U. Leuven, Belgium). Special thanks go to Pamela Samuelson and Robert
Bone for helpful discussions, and Rochelle Dreyfuss and Esther van Zimmeren for
comments on an earlier draft of this chapter.
1
See Ashish Arora, Contracting for Tacit Knowledge: The Provision of
...