Ferrari vs. Everyone: Protecting Their Secrets
Formula One teams earn money based on their finishing place in the Constructor’s Championship. Teams will seek every advantage to beat their competitors. These advantages may skirt, or even outright break, the rules. Competitor teams feel that they have the right to know not only when a competitor is doing something wrong, but what they are doing wrong. But the infringing team may have a legally protected right in the infringement that prevents the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) from releasing the details, especially when the infringement involves the power unit. The purpose of this presentation is to examine: (1) if a Formula One team has a protectable right, namely a trade secret, in its power unit and (2) can the team prevent the FIA from releasing this information to other teams?
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