Article in Kommunikation & Recht by Alev Gündoğdu and Sascha Hurst

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Changes to the protection of trade secrets under the Trade Secrets Act (GeschGehG) – A synopsis

EU Directive 2016/943 on the protection of confidential know-how and confidential business information (“trade secrets”) against unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (the “Trade Secrets Directive”) came into force back in 2016. The deadline for transposing the Directive was 9 June 2018, which the German legislature failed to meet. It was eventually transposed by the Act on the Protection of Trade Secrets (GeschGehG), which has been in force since 26 April 2019. This marks the first time that the protection of trade secrets has been regulated uniformly under German law. The following section highlights some of the legal changes associated with the GeschGehG and compares them with the previous legal situation. 

“Changes to the Protection of Trade Secrets under the GeschGehG – A Synopsis”

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