Ghidini, Gustavo; Falce, Valeria --- "Trade Secrets as Intellectual Property Rights: A Disgraceful Upgrading – Notes on an Italian ‘Reform’" [2011] ELECD 547; in Dreyfuss, C. Rochelle; Strandburg, J. Katherine (eds), "The Law and Theory of Trade Secrecy" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: The Law and Theory of Trade Secrecy

Editor(s): Dreyfuss, C. Rochelle; Strandburg, J. Katherine

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847208996

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Trade Secrets as Intellectual Property Rights: A Disgraceful Upgrading – Notes on an Italian ‘Reform’

Author(s): Ghidini, Gustavo; Falce, Valeria

Number of pages: 12

Extract:

6 Trade secrets as intellectual property
rights: a disgraceful upgrading ­ Notes
on an Italian `reform'*1
Gustavo Ghidini** and Valeria Falce***


Since Italy's enactment of a new Code of Industrial Property in 2005, trade
secrets have gained the status of an intellectual property right. Because
the request for stronger non-patent protection for trade secrets is growing
across jurisdictions, the Italian experiment should be of interest to foreign
observers, who would be well advised to prevent this untoward develop-
ment becoming part of their own legislation.


I. THE TRADITIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK

As in many legal systems, both civil and common law, the protection
of industrial and trade secrets (that is, any information which has an
economic value by reason of being confidential, is subject to reasonable
measures to keep it as secret, and is in fact not in the public knowledge nor
easily accessible or inferable by an average expert in the relevant field) has
been traditionally ensured in Italy within the framework, and according to
the limits, of unfair competition law. Thus, protection was granted only
against acts of `misappropriation', meaning only if either the acquisition
was made on behalf, or in the interest of, a competitor and in `a manner
contrary to honest commercial practises'. Since misappropriation gener-
ally required a breach of contract, a breach of confidence, or an induce-
ment to breach, competitors were liable for infringement only when they



* The present Article refers to the Italian rules on trade secret protection
introduced in the ...