درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Trade secrets have gained unprecedented importance in all fields of industry and have emerged as 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 for fulfilling this goal. Nevertheless, the mere possession of valuable trade secrets is not enough. There must be adequate safeguards by trade secrets holder, and more importantly, effective legislative measures are necessary 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 Act on Industrial Property. This paper, employing a descriptive-analytical method, examines the definition of trade secrets articulated by the Iranian legislator and compares it with the definitions enshrined in two main American statues and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The analysis concludes that while the Iranian definition is an appropriate step forward, when compared to the U.S. and TRIPS counterparts, it remains imperfect in certain material respects and consequently requires amendment.

Protest is one of the ways to express diverse viewpoints in society and critique the status quo. This article examines the interdependence between two foundational rights within international human rights law namely the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly on one side and the right to protest on the other. Drawing upon Hohfeldian jurisprudential analysis, the study challenges the treatment of these rights as separate legal entitlements and instead argues that they function in a mutually reinforcing framework essential to democratic participation. The article approaches this relationship in two stages: first, by analyzing the connection between the right to protest and freedom of expression as a form of dissent-based communication; and second, by examining how freedom of peaceful assembly enables protest to manifest collectively and publicly. To conceptually integrate these dimensions, the article introduces the term Collective Protestive Expression, a construct that reframes protest as a communicative act rooted in expression and amplified through collective assembly. Unlike conventional understandings of protest as either political reaction or public disorder, this term positions protest as an essential rights-based practice and an expression of democratic citizenship. The article concludes that recognizing protest in this way provides both conceptual clarity and normative strength, especially in contemporary contexts where protest is increasingly restricted. By identifying protest as a product of the interplay between expressive and associational rights, this study offers a more holistic framework for understanding, protecting, and promoting protest within democratic legal orders.