INTRODUCTION
‘Life would be intolerable in personal and commercial terms, if information could not be given or received in confidence and the right to have the information respected by the force of law’. This is Sir John Donaldson’s remark in the appellate judgment in Attorney General v Guardian Newspapers (1990). The case involved the disclosure in a book, by a retired MI5 agent, of alleged irregularities and illegal activities within MI5. Sir Donaldson’s remark highlights the need to uphold the protection of confidential information, for personal or commercial life as well as governments to function. Nevertheless, he recognised that this protection is not absolute as ‘… there will be just cause or excuse for breaking confidence when there are countervailing public interests supporting publication which outweigh those supporting the right to confidentiality’. So the law should protect secrecy and facilitate disclosure when there is a compelling interest. In the era of advanced algorithms used for automated decision-making (ADM) impacting the rights of individuals and public interest at large, the extent to which commercial secrets should be protected has been a matter of longstanding controversy …
Asress Adimi Gikay, Trade secrecy in automated decisions: against the myth of irreconcilability and the imposition of patents, Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice. Published: 29 July 2025.
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