Trade secret

The Law against Unfair Competition (UWG) protects business and trade secrets against unauthorised disclosure to third parties (Section 17 UWG). In general, case law differentiates between technical know-how and commercial business information.

According to Art. 2 DIRECTIVE (EU) 2016/943, business secrets are understood to be all information that fulfils all the criteria below:

1. it is secret in the sense that it is not, either in its entirety or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, generally known or readily accessible to persons in the circles which normally handle such information
2. they are of commercial value in the sense that they are secret
3. it is subject to appropriate confidentiality measures appropriate to the circumstances by the person lawfully in control of the information;

We also advise you on the effective protection of Know-how.