To Be and Not to Be an IPR – The Protection of Trade Secrets in the EU

5 Pages Posted: 29 Mar 2019 Last revised: 5 Jun 2019

See all articles by Jens Schovsbo

Jens Schovsbo

Centre for Information and Innovation Law (CIIR)

Thomas Riis

University of Copenhagen - Faculty of Law

Date Written: March 6, 2019

Abstract

No international consensus has developed regarding the classification of trade secret as an Intellectual Property Right, a piece of property or something different. This article argues that one should not from the abstract classification of the nature of the protection of trade secrets seek to infer legal consequences and that classifying trade secrets could well be a matter of degrees; for some purposes, it might make sense to see trade secrets as an IPR whereas for other it does not. Using the example of the Enforcement Directive and TRIPS it is pointed out how these legal regimes classify trade secrets protection in different ways but also that they do so for the same purpose which is problematic.

Keywords: trade secrets, intellectual property rights, EU, Enforcement, TRIPR

Suggested Citation

Schovsbo, Jens and Riis, Thomas, To Be and Not to Be an IPR – The Protection of Trade Secrets in the EU (March 6, 2019). Forthcoming, EIPR, University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2019-71, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3347705 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3347705

Jens Schovsbo (Contact Author)

Centre for Information and Innovation Law (CIIR) ( email )

University of Copenhagen
Karen Blixens Plads 16
Copenhagen, 2300
Denmark

Thomas Riis

University of Copenhagen - Faculty of Law ( email )

Karen Blixens Plads 16
Studiestrade 6
København S, 2300
Denmark

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