Obtaining Evidence in Patent Litigation and Trade Secret Protection – A Tale of Two Poles

Abstract

Abstract In this article, the authors compare how the courts in two different jurisdictions handle trade secrets in patent litigation. Even though the two countries observed, Finland and Germany, are both continental European civil law systems with similar legal traditions, the approach to trade secret protection in litigation is quite different in many aspects. While Finland already has comparatively sophisticated legislation and jurisprudence when it comes to the protection of trade secrets, the German approach is rather different, and could be compared to a patchwork carpet. In this article, the authors review the international and European legal framework before delving into the details of the two national legal systems. Finally, they give guidelines on how to harmonize trade secret protection in litigation in order to strike a fair balance between the different interests at stake.