Class 46 readers may be interested in a survey being conducted on the application of the Trade Secrets Directive.

According to information sent by the Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights to MARQUES:

In June 2024, the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission commissioned a study to support the intermediate report on the application of the Trade Secrets Directive pursuant to Article 18(2) of the Directive.

The study aims to assess the state of play of the application of the Directive in practice and recent on the ground developments in the area of trade secrets protection post-adoption of the Directive in order to support the intermediate report on the application of the Directive.

The EU Commission entrusted with this task the London School of Economics and Political Science together with CSIL Milan.

The intermediate report will paint a picture of the first lessons learned and (including the economic) impact of the Directive with respect to the areas of research and innovation, as well as the effects on the mobility of employees and on the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and information.

For this purpose, it will be vital to assess how the provisions in the Directive are applied in practice by SMEs, research institutions and larger companies. To assess these potential effects of the application of the Directive, current data on impact and stakeholder feedback will form a vital part of the study.

The Observatory says that completing the survey will take no more than 15 minutes. It is open until 1 November 2024 here.