Date Approaches for Start of EU Trade Secrets Directive

In early June 2016, every intellectual property counsel responsible for their companies' pan-European trade secrets and confidential information policies would have felt a degree of relief. These lawyers could look forward to a unified set of principles across the EU to protect their trade secrets, in place of the disparate levels of protection of trade secrets afforded by the laws of the individual member states. Some of the countries did not have any laws protecting trade secrets.

The sense of relief, however, swiftly evaporated when on June 24, 2016, as news came through that the electorate of the United Kingdom had voted to leave the European Union. That historic vote raised three immediate questions for IP counsel:

Will the UK comply with its Article 19 obligation to enact into its legislation the provisions of the directive by June 2018, if at all?

If not, will it nonetheless be possible after Brexit to have one trade secrets and confidential information policy that can apply both in the UK and in the European Union?

In either case, will it still be possible to obtain injunctive relief and damages in a member state and then enforce that relief in the United Kingdom, or to obtain such relief in the United Kingdom and enforce it anywhere in the European Union?

We will take the questions in order.

1. Will the UK comply with its Article 19 obligation to enact into its legislation the provisions of the directive?

The UK government served formal notice to leave the European Union by serving its Article 50 notice on March 29, 2017. That triggered the two-year period for the negotiation of exit terms, expiring on March 29, 2019, with a further two-year transition period being discussed as a possibility. In any event, the UK must submit its provisions for the implementation of the trade secrets directive well before that date. Indications that Her Majesty's Government will comply with Article 19 are that it has confirmed that it will implement both the general product data regulation and the European Union unified patents system. Counter-indications include the possibility being discussed in the UK press that no exit deal will be concluded, or that the enormity of the negotiation task and the rapidly emptying hour glass will simply leave no time for compliance.

2. Will it be possible after Brexit to have one trade secrets and confidential information policy that can apply both in the UK and in the European Union?

Article 2 of the directive defines a trade secret as “information which meets all of the following requirements: it is secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question; it has commercial value because it is secret; it has been subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances, by the person lawfully in control of the information, to keep it secret.”

English law on trade secrets has evolved on a common law, case-precedent basis rather than out of legislation. It has developed as a sub-set of the equitable obligation of confidentiality. It is in that context that we can assess the extent to which English case law on trade secrets can be said to meet the requirements of Article 2(1).

As one might expect, most of the English case law decisions arise out of contractual disputes over the enforceability — against a departing employee, consultant or vendor of a company — of clauses preventing the disclosure or use of operations, processes, product information, know-how, technical information, designs or software of the company holding the confidential information or trade secrets. The English courts can also enforce restrictions to protect the unauthorized use of customer lists, information and pricing.

The sine qua non is always that the information cannot be in the public domain. The information in question “must not be something which is public property and public knowledge,” which ties in with the Article 2(1)(a) requirement that the article is not generally known or readily accessible to those who usually deal with such categories of information.

It is also well-established in English law that the information must have commercial value because it is secret as Article 2.1(c) will now require. Equally reflected in English common law is the Article 2(1)(c) trade secrets directive requirement that the holder must have treated the information sought to be protected as secret information.

English law also mirrors Article 3 of the trade secrets directive, which provides that the use or disclosure of a trade secret is unlawful without the consent of the trade secret holder where the secret has been acquired unlawfully, and is being used in breach of a confidentiality agreement or of any contractual or any other duty to limit the use of the trade secret. For its part, English law holds that even without a written covenant in an employment contract preventing the use of the employer's trade secrets after its termination, there is an implied duty on a former employee not to use information that qualifies as his former employer's trade secrets or secrets of a highly confidential nature.

3. Will it be possible to obtain injunctive relief and damages in a member state and then enforce that relief in the United Kingdom, or to obtain such relief in the United Kingdom and enforce it anywhere in the European Union?

Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of Dec. 12, 2012, on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (the Recast Brussels Regulation) provided, among other things, for the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments between the courts of member states and of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The EFTA countries comprise Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

Critically for the cross-border protection of a company's intellectual property, Article 35 provides that any “such provisional, including protective measures, as may be available under the law of that state.” So at present, an English court can grant interim remedies in relation to proceedings that have been commenced or may be commenced in Germany or Italy. However, after the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, whether in March 2019, or after a transition period, the Recast Brussels Regulation will no longer apply to the United Kingdom. It will not be a Member State. Potentially that will make it far more difficult and time-consuming to enforce United Kingdom injunctions in Europe.

But that difficulty might be avoided. There was an encouraging development in August 2017 with the UK government's publication of its partnership paper, “Providing a cross-border civil judicial cooperation framework,” in which it stated its intention to secure judicial co-operation on a reciprocal basis that reflects closely the present EU system.

Fortunately, the European Union has expressed a similar intention. In its paper, “Essential Principles on Ongoing Judicial Co-Operation in Civil and Commercial Matters,” it confirmed that its withdrawal agreement with the United Kingdom should ensure that the present jurisdictional arrangements should continue to govern judicial proceedings and procedures.

One means of maintaining the ability to enforce an English law judgment for future agreements involving trade secrets might be to have the agreements subject to English law but to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Ireland. The Irish courts would apply English law to resolve the dispute, and then their injunctions and judgments could be enforced in the European Union given that Eire is not leaving.

Conclusion

Ultimately, IP counsel will need to wait and see what is agreed to, but at least in the meantime any trade secrets policy will not need a separate section dealing with the protection of trade secrets in the United Kingdom.

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Jonathan S. Cohen, a partner with Duane Morris in London, practices in the area of commercial litigation, advising clients in matters relating to trade secrets, international joint ventures, corporate disputes, commodities, financial services and banking litigation, among other areas.