⚖️ Trade secrets are property rights and can be assigned or licensed to other persons. The holder of trade secret has the right to authorize a third party to access and use the trade secret information.

📝 However, due to the secret nature of trade secret information, it is not always easy for others to determine whether the information concerned meets the conditions for trade secret protection. Therefore, compared with a patent, it is more difficult to transfer and license confidential information and to resolve disputes which may arise. Since a potential licensee needs to access the trade secret information in order to assess its value or utility, a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement needs to be signed between the potential licensor and licensee. Further, in order to maintain the secrecy of trade secret information, a trade secret licensor should require a licensee to take reasonable steps to keep that information secret.

Derived from https://www.wipo.int/tradesecrets/en/tradesecrets_faqs.html