Trade secrets worldwide

Perhaps its author is trying to tell us something about the rate of change in trade secret law by publishing this treatise in loose-leaf form with yearly supplements. A U.S. patent has a fixed term of 17 years and extends protection to the United States only—although its disclosures are worldwide. Foreign patents can be obtained separately in each country and may be quite costly. The scope of protection and subject matter which is patentable varies tremendously. There is action towards patents common to several countries, but the cost is apt to remain high, and many years will be required to determine their effectiveness. 

In 2008, the world s largest consumer of lithium minerals and compounds was the United States. The major producer of lithium chemicals worldwide was Chile. Other countries involved in lithium production included Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Portugal, the United States, and Zimbabwe. Specific information on U.S. production was not released in order to preserve trade secrets. 

One way of helping people visualize and estimate the frequency of very unlikely events is to examine the overall industry record. For example, if a certain event has an estimated frequency of 1 in 100 years, it is not likely that anyone on the facility will have witnessed that event. However, if there are 100 similar facilities worldwide, then that event should be occurring about once a year somewhere in the world. (Because shared information can be so useful, many companies choose to tell others about their safety difficulties, in spite of potential trade secrets and other legal issues.)... 

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