LD Duesseldorf, March 27, 2024, Procedural Order, UPC_CFI_355/2023

1. Key takeaways

Protection of confidential information requires balancing of interests

When deciding an application to grant protection for the allegedly confidential information, the court has to weigh the right of a party to have unlimited access to the documents contained in the file, which guarantees its fundamental right to be heard, against the interest of the opposing party to have its confidential information protected. (Headnote 1)

Protection of confidential information requires substantiated arguments

A party seeking protection for confidential information has – in a first step – to put forward sufficiently substantiated arguments, why it believes the information concerned is to be protected. It is therefore not enough to have resort to general circumstances such as there being competition between the parties to the dispute. The court has to be put in a position to understand, why the applicant believes that the concrete information to be