Recently Kentucky Fried Chicken® removed Col. Sanders’ handwritten recipe of 11 herbs and spices from their corporate offices to allow them to revamp security around the location where the recipe is normally kept.  KFC® hired off-duty police officers and private security guards to secure the document to an undisclosed location in an armored car.  The recipe was loaded into a briefcase and handcuffed to a security expert for the ride.  The security firm is also handling the security improvements for the recipe at KFC® headquarters. 

According to a Fox News Article, the recipe has been tucked away in a filing cabinet equipped with two combination locks in the company headquarters for over twenty years.  To reach the cabinet the keepers of the recipe would first open up a vault and unlock three locks on a door standing in front of the cabinet.  At any one time only two executives have access to the recipe. 

While at first this seems like security out of a James Bond movie or a Get Smart episode it does go to show the lengths some companies will go to keep their trade secret secret.  You may ask yourself just how valuable is this trade secret that they would be going through all of this effort and cost to maintain its secrecy.  According to the Fox News article KFC® posted U.S. only sales of $5.3 billion in 2007.   

The First Restatement of torts §757 defines a trade secret as “any formula, pattern, device, or compilation of information which is used in one’s business and which gives him an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who did not know or use it”.

All businesses develop valuable concepts, information and “know-how” such as manufacturing processes, customer lists, software or a business process giving them a competitive advantage in producing or selling their goods or services effectively. 

One of the factors for determining whether information or an idea is a trade secret is what measures the business has taken to ensure the idea or information remains secret.  The trade secret holder must take “reasonable measures” to ensure the information remains a trade secret.  Given these legal requirements and the value of KFC®’s secret formula, the security precautions taken by KFC® seem extravagant, but necessary. 

Jim Paige          (612) 392-7310           Jim.Paige@nm-iplaw.com