The protection of trade secrets is contractually and enforced between the parties. Usually between employer and employee, partners or shareholders. The case of African Oxygen Ltd and Tony Coster & Another illustrates how the High Court dealt and the Supreme Court, respectively with the law and principle on trade secrets and their protection.

Eswatini has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Eswatini has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

The Copyrights and Neighbouring Rights Act contains clear provisions that addresses the exceptions on the use of copyrights on permitted acts in respect to copyrights. The Act has a broad list of exceptions to copyright as contained in Sections 16-31. The Act provides for limitations and permitted acts that are consistent with international standards and rules. There is no infringement for the purpose of research or private study, educational use of copyright material, use of work for Parliamentary or judicial proceedings, fair dealing for the purposes of news reporting or reviews, reproducing artistic work for the purpose of advertising its sale, private recording of musical works and sound broadcasts, recording of programmes and broadcasts for the purposes of subsequent listening or viewing and quotations from copyright works.

It is reported that, until the Copyrights and Neighbouring Rights Act came into force in 2021, the enforcement of the copyright laws in Eswatini was very weak and as a result ineffective. Even though there are cases of piracy in the country, the weak or lack of enforcement of the laws has made it difficult to ascertain the extent of the prevalence because of the absence of reported cases.

Eswatini is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

According to Section 12 (c) of the Patents Act, an application for a patent is mandated to state an address for service in Eswatini to which all notices and communications may be sent, including the full postal, residential, and business addresses of the applicant. In terms of Sections 10 and 11 of the Patents Act, there are no restrictions on the application, registration, and recognition of patents for both local and foreign firms. The Registrar of Patents is mandated to register patents where the application is made in accordance with Section 9 of the Act without any distinction on whether the applicant is a foreign or local holder of the patent.

Section 4(3) of the Electronic Communications Act establishes that the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM) may establish ownership limitations for providers of electronic communications services in order to ensure sufficient numbers of unaffiliated market participation, and may take appropriate actions and measures to ensure the participation of unaffiliated market participants in the event of market failure.

The Public Enterprises (Control and Monitoring) Act (PEA) has no specific provisions that prohibits the appointment of foreigners as board members or directors in government owned enterprises. However, there has never been an instance where a foreigner was appointed to be either a chief, director or board member of a government enterprise. It is reported that, when one looks at the architecture of the appointment process for members of the board for government enterprises, it is clear that the intention is not to have foreigners forming part of the boards of these entities. The Board members are appointed by the responsible Minister in consultation with the standing Committee that is comprised of Cabinet Ministers (Sections 2 and 6).

Eswatini Post and Telecommunications Corporation is wholly owned by the government. Neither local nor foreign firms hold any equity shares invested in the corporation. Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Act provide for the establishment of the corporation and its governing structures which is in line with the provisions of the Public Enterprises (Control and Monitoring) Act (PEA). The PEA is a framework Act that regulates how public Enterprises are established and governed in Eswatini and further list all Public Enterprises and their categorisation. Under the PEA, the Post and Telecommunications Corporation is listed under Category A, denoting that it is wholly owned by the government of Eswatini (see Section 2 and the Schedule).

Section 12(1) of the Public Procurement Regulations provides that Swati companies shall have preferences in the evaluation of tenders for goods, works and non-consultancy services. According to Section 12(2), a Swati Company is a company that is registered in Eswatini and which has 60% of the controlling shares owned by Eswatini citizens. Section 12(5) provides that preferences may be granted to foreign firms which sub-contract or partner with Swati firms or citizens, or use Swati manufactured products.

Eswatini is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) nor does it have observer status.

Eswatini is not a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II).

Egypt has not adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce.