Trade secrets and their protection
Need for action: Protection of trade secrets
Software, algorithms, business strategies, recipes or customer lists are essential company assets and sensitive information that often cannot be protected as intellectual property rights (trademarks, designs, patents, etc.). Therefore, it is important to protect them from unauthorised access by third parties. Otherwise, there is a risk of appropriation by third parties or unauthorised use by former employees without any possible sanctions.
| Three out of four corporate executives believe that there is a need to invest more in protecting trade secrets – this is one of the key findings from a recent analysis conducted by CMS in cooperation with "The Economist Intelligence Unit". Only half of the companies surveyed have taken active steps to restrict access to confidential information and reduce the risk of a trade secret misappropriation. |
Dutch Trade Secrets Protection Act
The Dutch Trade Secrets Protection Act ("Wet bescherming bedrijfsgeheimen") provides protection for trade secrets but also establishes the prerequisite that "reasonable steps" are taken to keep the information secret.
For every piece of information which should be protected, the requirement of "reasonable secrecy measures" means that a bundle of protective measures must be taken at three levels:
- At the legal level (i.e. confidentiality documents, NDA's)
- At the organisational level (i.e. employee trainings)
- At the technical level (i.e. IT-security measures)
The concrete protective measures depend on the importance, type and risk of misappropriation of the individual piece of information. There is no standard solution. Trade secrets must be categorised individually for each company and a suitable concept of protection must be developed and implemented.
Free online risk analysis from CMS Our online risk analysis tool helps you assess the level of know-how protection in your organisation. It enables you to gain an initial overview of the vulnerabilities in your organisation with regard to trade secrets and sensitive data. It only takes five minutes to find out whether your company needs to take action to protect its know-how. |
The solution: CMS PROTECT
In order to assist companies in protecting their trade secrets CMS offers the product CMS PROTECT.
With three modules of CMS PROTECT, we develop and implement a protection concept with and for your company to ensure the protection of secrets.
If you would like to receive further information about CMS PROTECT or if you have any questions, please contact our team of experts.
More information about CMS PROTECT can be found on this page.
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