The Ultimate Trade Secret Revealed

 The formula for Coca-Cola has long been considered the ultimate trade secret. While Coca-Cola could have chosen to patent the formula they use for their product, that protection would only have lasted twenty years and generic coke would currently be undercutting their product. Instead of using the patent process, Coca-Cola took the more difficult, but potentially longer lasting route in protecting their intellectual property by protecting the formula as a proprietary trade secret.

A trade secret is defined in North Carolina, as business or technical information, including but not limited to a formula, pattern, program, device, compilation of information, method, technique, or process that:
a. Derives independent actual or potential commercial value from not being known or readily ascertainable through independent development or reverse engineering by persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and
b. Is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.
G.S. § 66-152(3)(2001)
Factors in determining whether or not information is a trade secret include:
(1) the extent to which information is known outside the business; (2) the extent to which it is known to employees and others involved in the business; (3) the extent of measures taken to guard secrecy of the information; (4) the value of information to business and its competitors; (5) the amount of effort or money expended in developing the information; and (6) the ease or difficulty with which the information could properly be acquired or duplicated by others.
The trade secret act allows owners of trade secrets to receive injunctions against disclosure or use of their trade secrets and potentially to receive treble damages for infringement.
According to legend, Coca-Cola's formula is only known to a handful of top executives who are all bound by various confidentiality and non-compete agreements. https://askcompetentlawyer.com/business-commercial-litigation/ The recipe has been kept under lock and key. Any information that would be helpful to someone trying to reverse engineer the formula has also been subject to protection.
Despite the best efforts of Coca-Cola, This American Life claims to have revealed the ultimate trade secret, the recipe for Coca-Cola by looking closely at a 1979 photo they claim is of the recipe. The formula has been one of the most closely guarded corporate secrets. Coca-Cola's protection of the formula has been the gold standard by which all attorneys wish their clients would follow regarding their trade secrets. Even if this formula is correct, Coca-Cola has been able to protect their trade secret for many decades by protecting their information the right way.