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ARTICLE · 05 JUNE 2024

Protect Your Trade Secrets – Criminal Law Protection & Tax Issues

Simont Braun
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In the latest episode of our Trade Secrets Series we discussed the measures aimed at maintaining the confidentiality of trade secrets during legal proceedings.

BelgiumIntellectual Property
Michael De Vroey
Michael De Vroey
Noah Verbaenen
Noah Verbaenen
Thomas Gernay
Thomas Gernay

In the latest episode of our Trade Secrets Series we discussed the measures aimed at maintaining the confidentiality of trade secrets during legal proceedings. In this sixth and final episode we elaborate on the criminal law protection of trade secrets and tax issues related to trade secrets.

CRIMINAL LAW PROTECTION OF TRADE SECRETS

Article 309 of the Belgian Criminal Code imposes imprisonment and fines on any person who maliciously or fraudulently passes on secrets of the factory owned by the company where he is or was employed to a third party. The notion of "secrets of the factory" has a narrower scope than that of "trade secrets". In the absence of a definition in the law, the Belgian Cour de Cassation ruled that it is for the court hearing the case to assess whether the manufacturing process constitutes a secret of the factory in the normal and usual sense of those terms. The Cour de Cassation did not reverse the Court of Appeal judgement that defined "secret

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