Trade Secret Protection

Subject-matters that are not protected by intellectual property rights can nevertheless be of outstanding value to businesses. This applies, for example, if one does not want to apply for a patent for a technical development because it appears preferable to keep it secret instead of disclosing it to the general public within the framework of a patent application and a patent granted subsequently. 

The protection of such and other company and trade secrets has been (and still is) laid down in §§ 17 et seq. of the Act against Unfair Competition (UWG). In implementation of the European Directive on the Protection of Trade Secrets (Directive (EU) No. 2016/943), however, the German legislator has now presented a draft bill on the transposition of the Directive into German law (so-called Trade Secrets Act); this is intended to replace §§ 17 et seq. of the German Act against Unfair Competition (UWG) completely. 

WILDANGER advises and represents its clients in the protection of their trade and business secrets both in and out of court. Our clients here also include SMEs as well as large companies and groups from Germany and abroad, for whom we have already successfully conducted a large number of proceedings before German courts, be it in the prosecution of violations of such secrets or in the defence of unjustified claims.