POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Szymon Gogulski, Marek Oleksyn and Maciej Gil, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
5.2 Limitations Period General Rule
non-competition agreement after terminating employ - ment involves paying the employee at least a quarter
of their previous salary. 4.2 New Employees
As trade secret claims form part of “property-related claims”, they are subject to the statute of limitations. As a general rule, under the UCL, trade secret infringe - ment claims become time-barred after three years. This statute of limitation period begins separately for each infringement. Claims to Redress Damage For damage caused because of the unlawful disclo - sure, use and acquisition of trade secrets, claims for redress of damage become time-barred after three years from the date on which the harmed party (claim - ant) learned, or could have learned by acting diligently, about the damage and the person obliged to repair it. However, this period cannot be longer than ten years from the date on which the event giving rise to the damage occurred. There is also a specific statute of limitation rule for those cases where a breach of a trade secret consti - tutes a crime or a misdemeanour. In such a case, the limitation period for the claim for damages may not end later than 20 years from the date of the offence. Cessation Claims in Trade Secret Infringements Having a Continuous Character The UCL or other laws do not expressly provide how the statute of limitations should be calculated for a cessation claim where trade secret infringement has a continuous character – eg, where products manufac - tured with the unlawful use of a claimant’s trade secret are continuously offered for sale online. While different approaches are presented in case law and doctrine, according to the prevailing position the three-year statute of limitations of a cessation claim starts to run separately on each day in which infringement occurs. The latter approach corresponds with the decision of the Polish Supreme Court, issued regarding an analo - gous point of law under EU trade mark enforcement in Poland (18 May 2021, case III CZP 30/20). Although this Supreme Court decision was based on trade mark law, due to its written reasoning and the arguments presented, its conclusions may potentially be more widely applied by common courts in trade secrets infringement cases.
As regards hiring employees from competitors, risks related to potential trade secret misappropriation claims may be mitigated by, for example, enquiring about a new employee’s obligations towards their former employer(s) or informing the new employee in writing that they are not allowed to use any informa - tion acquired from the previous employer other than general knowledge, experience and skills acquired during previous employment. It is also worth including this type of arrangement in employment agreements.
5. Trade Secret Litigation 5.1 Prerequisites for Filing a Lawsuit Lawsuit
A standard civil litigation alleging the theft of a trade secret commences with filing a lawsuit. This proce - dural brief is subject to general formal requirements under the CPC for lawsuits in civil cases (see 5.5 Initial Pleading Standards ). Prerequisites or Preliminary Steps Before a Lawsuit Is Filed Depending on the defendant’s identity, a trade secret lawsuit may additionally fall under specific procedural rules envisaged for litigation in commercial matters – eg, a pre-litigation settlement attempt by the claimant. Although such a settlement attempt is not a prereq - uisite for initiating a civil lawsuit, a claimant failing to make such an attempt may result in the court shifting all costs of the litigation onto that claimant, regardless of the case’s final outcome. Also, in commercial litiga - tion, the claimant is obliged to adduce all statements and evidence in the lawsuit, failing which the party may be precluded from introducing such evidence at a later stage. Such statements and evidence produced at a later stage are ignored unless the claimant sub - stantiates that their adducing was not possible or that the need to introduce them arose later. This means that, subject to the comments in 5.6 Seizure Mecha- nisms , all the relevant and available evidence should be provided while filing the lawsuit.
139 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook