Explain the test for a cause of action for breach of confidence in the common law world.

Test for Breach of Confidence (Common Law) The test for a cause of action for breach of confidence in the common law world is set out in the case of Coco vs. A.N. Clark (Engineers) Ltd., (1969) R.P.C. 41 : The information itself must have the necessary quality of confidence about it; That information must have been imparted in circumstances imparting an obligation of confidence; There must be an unauthorized use of that information to the detriment of the party communicating it. The "quality of confidence" highlights the fact that trade secrets are a legal concept. With sufficient effort or through illegal acts (such as break and enter), competitors can usually obtain trade secrets. However, so long as the owner of the trade secret demonstrates that reasonable efforts have been made to keep the information confidential, the information remains a trade secret and is legally protected as such. Conversely, trade secret owners who do not demonstrate reasonable effort at protecting confidential information, risk losing the trade secret even if the information is obtained by competitors illegally. It is for this reason that trade secret owners shred documents and do not simply recycle them. Presumably an industrious competitor could piece together the shredded documents again. Legally the trade secret remains a trade secret because shredding the document is considered to have kept the quality of confidence of the information.