Why has Coca-Cola not patented the formula for Coke, as opposed to relying upon trade secret law? And why has Kentucky Fried Chicken not patented the recipe for the fried chicken it sells, as opposed to relying upon trade secret law?
What risks are Coca-Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken running with their reliance upon trade secret law?
Under what circumstances is the use of another party's trade secrets illegal?
Under what circumstances is the use of another party's trade secrets not illegal?
1) Why do you think Microsoft was such a prominent focus of the government's anti-trust efforts in the 1990s and early 2000s? If you have difficulty with this question, this New York Times article. from 2000 may be helpful
2) In the on-line course session for the first week of class, you read an article about a class action lawsuit, to an external site. that had been filed on behalf of roughly 64,000 tech employees against firms like Google, Apple, Intel, and Adobe, alleging that the executives at these firms - people like Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, and Sergey Brin - had colluded with each other to form no-poaching agreements, thereby keeping their employees from jumping ship to competing firms. If the allegations are true, have the defendants engaged in anti-competitive behavior and violated the anti-trust laws? How or how not?