Trade Secrets & Formulation Protection

Because your formula is more than proprietary—it's priceless.

In beauty and personal care, your product’s performance is your reputation. 

Whether it’s a skincare serum, haircare blend, or a scent profile that sets your brand apart, your formulation is a competitive edge that deserves airtight protection.

At tmalaw, we help brands protect the science behind the glow—before it gets copied, leaked, or lost in a messy business breakup.

Is This For You?

You might need trade secret support if:

  • You’ve created or customized a product formulation or process

  • You’re working with labs, consultants, or contract manufacturers

  • You’re unsure what needs to be in your agreements to protect your formula

  • You’ve never documented how your formula is secured or shared

  • You’re preparing for scale, investment, or licensing and need to lock things down

  • You’re looking for approval to not disclose an ingredient that is key your proprietary formula

Brands often ask us:

"Do I need a patent for my formula?"
"Can my co-packer use this formula for someone else?"
"What if a former employee tries to launch a competing product?"
"Should I disclose the full formula to investors or retailers?"
"Is my formula even protectable?"

We’ll help you answer those questions—and ask the ones you didn’t know to consider.

Real Industry Insight

Most beauty formulations are protected not by patents, but by trade secret law. That means protection isn’t automatic—you have to proactively secure it.

We help you:

  • Identify what parts of your business qualify as trade secrets (it’s more than just formulas!)

  • Draft or review NDAs, lab contracts, and vendor agreements to include strong trade secret provisions

  • Build internal practices to keep your trade secrets confidential and defensible

  • Navigate tricky situations where employees, collaborators, or vendors may have access

  • Avoid common mistakes that accidentally forfeit trade secret protection

If your product delivers visible results, you can bet someone will try to reverse-engineer it. Trade secret strategy is your first line of defense.

Our Perspective

Protecting your formula isn’t just about having people sign NDAs—it’s about building a legal and operational framework that keeps your innovation safe and your brand secure.

As part of your tmalaw service plan, we help you:

  • Draft confidentiality terms that actually work

  • Negotiate lab, consultant, and manufacturer agreements with trade secret protections in place

  • Create internal policies that support enforceability if a breach ever happens

And because we only work with beauty, cosmetics, and personal care brands, we know what’s standard, what’s strategic, and what your partners aren’t telling you.

Client Q+A: Protecting the Secret Sauce starts with YOU

In this quick episode, Trezanay shares the surprising answer she gave a beauty founder who asked how to stop their formula from being copied—and why real protection starts long before a contract is signed.

Time to Identify What’s Yours—and Build Programs That Keep It That Way?

Let’s make sure your next move protects your ingredients, your strategy, and the secret sauce behind your brand.

Learn more about what we do