Abstract Trade secrets have gained unprecedented importance in all fields of industry and become a critical component of many firms\\\' intangible assets following the big changes seen during the past decades. Achieving and preserving a competitive advantage over competitors is vital for many enterprises and trade secrets are an essential means to reach this goal. Nevertheless, possessing valuable trade secrets is not enough. There must be adequate safeguards by trade secrets holder and more importantly, effective legislative measures to ensure the secrecy of such information. In an attempt to accomplish this task, the Iranian legislator has provided for protection of trade secrets in a specific chapter of the new law on industrial property. The present paper, which has been written in a descriptive-analytical method, addresses the definition of trade secrets by the Iranian legislator and compares it to the definitions found in two main American statues and the TRIPS Agreement. The results of this paper show that although the Iranian definition is an appropriate step forward, in comparison to the U.S law and TRIPS definitions, it is not perfect and needs to be amended in some respects.

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