The implementing decree of 11 December 2018 on the protection of business secrecy

The Decree No. 2018-1126 of 11 December 2018 comes to specify the judicial enforcement measures of Law No. 2018-670 of 30 July 2018 on the protection of trade secrets.

Le décret n° 2018-1126 du 11 décembre 2018 concerne essentiellement les mesures provisoires et conservatoires pouvant être prononcées sur requête ou en référé en cas d’atteinte à un trade secrets ainsi que les règles de procédure applicables aux mesures de protection de ce secret devant les juridictions civiles et commerciales.

The article Article R. 152-1 introduced into the Commercial Code thus provides that the holder of a protectable trade secret may apply by way of petition or on an interim basis for an injunction against the allegedly unlawful acts, accompanied, if the judge deems it appropriate, by the provision of security. In parallel, the judge may authorise the defendant to continue the acts complained of, also subject to the provision of security.

Comme en matière de propriété industrielle, la validité des provisional measures est subordonnée à l’introduction d’une action au fond par le détenteur dans un délai de vingt jours ouvrables ou de trente et un jours civils si ce dernier délai est plus long. Nous noterons que cet article précise qu’une juridiction ne pourra autoriser la divulgation d’un trade secrets en la subordonnant à la constitution d’une garantie.

The decree then provides for the’Article R. 153-1 relating to the administration of evidence. This text refers to the’Article 145 of the Civil Procedure Code to arrange its implementation. Seized with a request on this basis, the judge may ex officio order the provisional sequestration of the collected documents in order to protect trade secrets. In the absence of a request for modification or withdrawal of the order made by the judge in accordance with Article 497 of the Code of Civil Procedure within one month of the notification of the decision, the provisional sequestration measure shall be lifted and the documents shall be transmitted to the applicant.

Finally, the decree introduces Articles R. 153-2 to R. 153-9, which concern the procedures for communication and production of documents. The party invoking trade secret protection for a document whose communication or production is requested must, within a time limit set by the judge, provide a confidential version of said document in addition to a non-confidential version or its summary, and an explanatory brief detailing the reasons for its confidential nature (R. 153-3). The judge may order the communication or production of the document in its entirety if this is necessary for the resolution of the dispute, even if it is likely to prejudice a trade secret.R. 153-6).

The publication of the judgment is, for its part, governed by the’Article R. 153-10 which provides that a non-confidential version of the decision, in which information covered by business secrets is redacted, may be delivered to third parties and made available to the public in electronic form.