Strategies for dealing with Trade Secrets in Transactions - HSF Kramer writes for IAM

Trade secrets are increasingly being used to protect investments in fast-moving areas of technological innovation. Often the pace of change is too fast for patent protection to be effective, or the nature of the innovation or information is such that it does not lend itself easily to patenting – think AI and algorithms – and then of course there are innovations that you do not want to disclose, even in a patent application. 

Given the increasingly important role played by technological advancements in the global economy, trade secrets have become a critical asset in many transactions. Reliance on and investment in, innovations or information protected as a trade secret requires the use of specific approach that ay differ from those taken with other intellectual property assets. 

This raises a number of unique issues, which Jonathan Turnbull, Kate Peck and Rachel Montagnon discuss in our latest article for IAM (Intellectual Asset Management) magazine: Strategies for dealing with Trade Secrets in transactions, published on 17 December 2025 as part of a series of articles on trade secrets by HSF Kramer's IP team, commissioned by IAM. 

See more articles in our IAM trade secrets series:

• Trade secrets v Transparency - Navigating the EU AI Act’s disclosure obligations
• HSF Kramer writes for IAM on Trade Secrets and Reverse Engineering

For more from HSF Kramer on trade secrets visit our Hidden Value web page and our articles on

• Unlocking competitive advantage: The strategic role of trade secrets in IP protection
• Protecting what matters: How to secure and monitor your trade secrets
• Trade secrets in the AI era: Navigating transparency under the EU AI Act
• Enforcing Trade Secrets across borders: A comparative look at the UK, EU, US, Australia and China

For more on IP issues in licensing and transactions generally, see our Transactional IP blog post series.