ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Giovanni F Casucci, Matteo Casucci, Serena Spadavecchia and Alice Niccoli, GA-Alliance
be at odds with each other as they apply different standards of evidence and different criteria. 1.2 What Is Protectable as a Trade Secret Articles 98 and 99 of the CPI, which incorporate the provisions of Directive (EU) 2016/943, protect trade secrets in Italy. The CPI protects many types of infor - mation, including technical, commercial, operational and scientific information if certain requirements are met. Specifically, according to Article 98 of the CPI, trade secrets consist of business information and technical-industrial experience, including business experience, subject to the legitimate control of the holder, as well as test data or other secret data, the processing of which involves considerable effort and the submission of which is a prerequisite for obtain - ing marketing authorisation for chemical, pharmaceu - tical or agricultural products involving the use of new chemical substances. Although not explicitly stated as a rule within the CPI itself, Italian case law considers it essential that trade secrets are “identified, that is to say, described in a sufficiently comprehensive manner so as to make it possible to verify that [they fulfil] the criteria of secre - cy and substantiality” as per the clear definition in Article 1.1 lett (i)–(iii) of EU Regulation 316/2014 (EU Regulation 316/2014 remains in force until 30 April 2026 pursuant to EU Regulation 2022/718; practition - ers should monitor any further developments follow - ing expiry). Furthermore, for information to be classified as a trade secret, it must meet three key conditions: • it must be secret; • it must possess economic value due to its secrecy; and • it must be subject to reasonable measures taken by the owner to maintain its confidentiality. (See 1.4 Elements of Trade Secret Protection .) 1.3 Examples of Trade Secrets Italian courts have detailed and extended the protec - tion afforded by trade secret laws to various types of information: for example, technical information such as formulas, processes, designs, prototypes,
algorithms and software code can be deemed trade secrets, as can business information such as custom - er lists, pricing models and strategic plans. Also, technical drawings and lists of components of an installation, even if lacking in originality per se, are eligible for protection as trade secrets in so far as, either as a whole or in the individual configuration of each of them, they contain elements that are not generally known nor easily accessible to those in the industry. Scientific research data, including experimental findings and methodologies, as well as operational knowledge and practical experiences such as manu - facturing techniques or supply chain management processes, are also protected. 1.4 Elements of Trade Secret Protection According to the CPI, trade secret protection is grant - ed provided that the information: • is secret, meaning that it is not, as a whole or in the precise configuration and combination of its elements, generally known or easily accessible to experts and practitioners in the field; • has economic value because of its secrecy; and • is subject to reasonable measures taken by the owner to maintain its confidentiality, such as through access restrictions or confidentiality agree - ments. Under unfair competition rules, the Civil Code does not provide specific requirements for trade secret pro - tection. Instead, it provides a general clause address - ing unfair competition, which applies to cases of mis - appropriation of both trade secrets and confidential business information, whenever such actions are car - ried out unfairly and in violation of business loyalty obligations. This provision grants, in particular, pro - tection to confidential information when its misappro - priation is likely to damage the legitimate holder from a competitive standpoint, even if the data does not precisely meet the requirements for trade secret pro - tection as defined by the CPI. Taken together, these legal frameworks ensure comprehensive protection for trade secrets, although they establish varying standards of proof.
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