BEYOND TRADITIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: THE NECESSITY AND POSSIBILITIES OF STRENGTHENING THE PROTECTION OF TRADE SECRETS THROUGH ITS INTEGRATION INTO THE MODERN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SYSTEM

Abstract

The events of recent years, including the Russian Federation’s aggression, China’s intellectual property (IP) violations, and
production localization fostered by the COVID-19 pandemic, have created a new global era in the field of IP enforcement and international
trade relations. Russia has openly declared its intention to violate IP belonging to “unfriendly countries” (Western countries). This raises
the issue of whether the existing patent system can handle these challenges. Namely, patenting involves the publication of an invention,
which makes its misappropriation easy. The trends described above require specific adaptions for Western countries, as a result of which
the author argues that the role of trade secret protection has become more prominent. However, assessing the suitability of trade secret
protection in this changed environment is critical. Therefore, this article aims to first evaluate the current system of protecting trade secrets
and then make suggestions to improve it.