United States: Fracking Trade Secret Rules: A Tug Of War Without Winners by Elizabeth A. Howard and Derek F. Knerr, October 29, 2013, Mondaq
Trade Secrets Watch prepared a state-by-state chart that highlights the key provisions of the states currently requiring disclosure. …
Not only does California now require disclosure of “each and every” chemical used, including additives, but it expressly excludes the identities of those chemical additives from trade secret protection — a step that goes beyond any other existing regulatory regime. It also sets a particularly high bar for maintaining information as a trade secret when that status is challenged. To overcome such a challenge, the holder of trade secret information must obtain either a declaratory judgment from a court, or an order granting a preliminary injunction holding that the information claimed to be a trade secret is subject to protection. Additional measures tipping towards disclosure include requiring written justification for claiming trade secret status, and developing a single website for reporting fracking details.
…
The uneven application of trade secret protections across the states would seem to be in no one’s interest. [Emphasis added]