POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Szymon Gogulski, Marek Oleksyn and Maciej Gil, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak Jasna 26 Street 00-054 Warsaw Poland
Tel: 00 4822 6087 000 Fax: 00 4822 6087 001 Email: office@skslegal.pl Web: www.skslegal.pl
• the Law on Access to Public Information (6 Sep - tember 2001) – the limitation of the right to public information constituting trade secrets. Poland is also a party to the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the relevant provisions of which are directly effective in the national legal system. 1.2 What Is Protectable as a Trade Secret Under Polish law, any technical, technological, organi - sational, or other information of economic value which, either as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, is not generally known, to or easily accessible by, persons usually dealing with that type of information, may be potentially protected as a trade secret. That also includes negative infor - mation – eg, regarding unsuccessful trials and tests. Any information lacking economic value or information generally known to experts in a given field is excluded from protection. 1.3 Examples of Trade Secrets Case law recognises the following examples of types of information protectable as a trade secret: • the description of a manufacturing process or a quality-control system; • analyses of the presence of mineral deposits; • sales forecasts; • data showing production and sales volumes as well as sources of supply and clients; • information on the publishing plans of a publishing house; and • information related to a company’s organisational structure or employees’ salaries.
1. Legal Framework 1.1 Sources of Legal Protection for Trade Secrets Law on Counteracting Unfair Competition The protection of trade secrets is substantially gov - erned by provisions of the Law on Counteracting Unfair Competition, dated 16 April 1993 (UCL), implementing Directive (EU) 2016/943 on the protection of undis - closed know-how and business information (trade secrets), dated 8 June 2016, against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (the “Trade Secrets Directive”). The UCL regulates the prerequisites to protect information as a trade secret, the scope of trade secret protection, exceptions from protection, available remedies and criminal liability. Other Legal Acts Specific provisions regarding the protection of trade secrets are also included in, for example: • the Civil Code (23 April 1964) – the protection of information disclosed during negotiations; • the Civil Procedure Code (17 November 1964) (CPC) – the protection of trade secrets in civil pro - ceedings; • the Labour Code (26 June 1974) – the confidential - ity obligations of employees and representatives of trade unions; • the Industrial Property Law (30 June 2000) – licence agreements for the use of inventions con - stituting trade secrets for which no application for a patent grant has been filed; and
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