Trade secrets exposed!

Trade Secrets and Undisclosed Information is a thumpingly fat book, edited by a pair of US academics, Sharon K. Sandeen (Professor of Law, Hamline University School of Law) and Elizabeth Rowe (UFRF Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law). It's another in Edward Elgar Publishing's series of Critical Concepts in Intellectual Property Law, with series editor Robert Merges. This means various things: (i) it's unashamedly US-focused and doesn't really have much to say about, or to, the rest of the world; (ii) there's nothing on the book's web page to say that this is the case -- though it would be a courtesy to readers to inform them that this is so, particularly if they are thinking of buying it online and have no means of inspecting it first, and (iii) the volume consists of a short, well-written introduction followed by a collection of previously-published journal articles and book chapters, reproduced in their original format, and without the unifying convenience of an index or list of cases. That said, the choice of content is excellent and it's good to have some classics of the trade secrets repertory all together in a single volume.

According to the publishers:

This collection comprises eighteen contemporary articles on an often overlooked, but important, field of intellectual property law: trade secrets and undisclosed information. Divided into five parts, the selected articles examine various aspects of trade secret law, including its historical development and the range of theories and justifications for trade secret protection. The material also provides a detailed exploration of the scope and limits of trade secret protection, and addresses how trade secret issues arise in a number of contexts, including employment, governmental relations, and the internet. 

Including an original introduction by the editors, Trade Secrets and Undisclosed Information brings this significant subject into the forefront of discussion, and will be an invaluable resource to students, scholars and practitioners alike.

At US$ 470 this tome may be an invaluable one for students, but it's a pretty expensive one too.  For that price, some helpful indexing would be the least one might hope for -- especially since each of the articles found via a random search of some of the chapters contained here shows that they were available at no cost via SSRN.

Bibliographical data: hardback, xvi + 946 pages. ISBN 978 1 78347 296 3. Price $470 (online price from the publishers $423). Rupture factor: high.  Book's web page here.