Obviously, this doesn’t work for data – like football league information – which by its nature has to be public. However, structuring your data arrangements and contracts so that they contain obligations of confidentiality is nearly always a useful step.
A step beyond confidentiality is the trade secret. A trade secret is a form of ultra-confidential confidential information. The recipe for Coca-Cola is a good example of a trade secret, as is Google’s search algorithm: in the right circumstances, and handled in the right way, data can become a trade secret.
The advantage of trade secrets is that the law will give additional protections and remedies over and above those given to mere confidential information and with greater international reach. Trade secrets are also useful where traditional forms of intellectual property just don’t fit.
But you can’t just claim that something is a trade secret. Your business needs to have adopted a set of practices which justify your claim that your data is, in fact, a trade secret.