Confidentiality
is an increasingly important need for companies not only to protect customer
information and comply with the Regulation General Data Protection ,
but also to shield their business plans, business strategies and expertise. To provide greater protection to
companies, the Government has presented the draft Business Secrets Law .
Why is it so important to protect business
secrets?
Throughout history there have been different cases of theft of
industrial secrets. One of the best known occurred in 1993, when General
Motors accused Volkswagen of espionage after Opel's head of production and
seven other executives went to work with the rival company. General Motors
claimed that Volkswagen had used some of its corporate secrets and the company
had to compensate it with $ 100 million, in addition to closing a
billion-dollar deal for the purchase of parts over seven years.
Industrial espionage is present at all levels and sectors,
causing considerable damage to companies, especially those that are committed
to innovation . A study conducted at the University of
Portsmouth revealed that the value of companies' intangible assets, such
as brand, intellectual property and trade secrets, has increased from $ 19.8
billion in 2001 to $ 47.6 billion in 2016, so the theft of patents, designs or
customer databases can cause great financial loss.
Industrial espionage can also cause great damage to business
reputation , affecting the image and perception of the company that
its actual or potential clients have, causing it to lose market share and
forcing it to implement a costly rebranding strategy . In this scenario,
having a law that safeguards business secrets is a necessity of the first
order.
What does the law on business secrets punish?
In line with the European Union Directive , the business secrets law aims to
strengthen the protection of undisclosed business information, so that it
cannot be obtained, used or disclosed through illegal practices that
end up affecting the competitiveness of companies or causing economic damage.
This bill determines the behaviors that imply a violation of
business secrecy, as well as the practices that are considered illegal in
obtaining, using and disclosing that information.
It considers unfair and illegal, for example, the disclosure or
exploitation of business secrets without the authorization of the owner,
regardless of whether that information was obtained using espionage methods or
legitimately but with reservations. This means that it is a crime to leave the company taking
the customer database with you .
What will the legal procedure be like?
The trade secrets law also provides effective legal protection
tools for companies . It establishes the legal
actions that companies can take if they suffer a violation and indicates the
scope of compensation for damages. To calculate this compensation, the
economic damages suffered by the company are taken into account, including lost
profits, as well as the enrichment of the offender, the non-material damage
caused and the investigation expenses incurred by the company to present the
evidence before a judge.
This new regulation also aims to minimize bureaucratic
procedures and reduce legal processing time, providing faster solutions that
allow companies to recover from damages suffered in the shortest possible time.
In summary, the business secrets bill reinforces the
legal framework that protects large companies and SMEs from unfair practices
that can represent large losses, both from an economic and reputational point
of view, also facilitating the way for claims legal, so that the impact of
damages can be minimized as soon as possible.
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