The Protection of Trade Secrets in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Trade secrets are an important source of business information in many sectors of the economy. Trade secrets are recognised as intellectual property (IP) rights by international conventions such as the Paris Convention and the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Trade Related Rights of Intellectual Property. The protection of trade secrets around the world has recently seen an upsurge of statutory recognition of the right as an IP right. Unfortunately and despite its key role in industry and business, trade secrets protection in Zimbabwe is disjointed and fragmented since it is protected by the common law through various legal disciplines ranging from contract, delict and IP. It is argued in this article that this state of affairs in unsatisfactory for Zimbabwe. A more robust approach is called for in Zimbabwe.