Trade secret protection in the workplace – Rules and guidelines for effective trade secret protection

Saskia Leopold and Christoph Ludvik published their article on “๐™๐™ง๐™–๐™™๐™š ๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ง๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ ๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™–๐™˜๐™š – ๐™๐™ช๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™œ๐™ช๐™ž๐™™๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™š๐™›๐™›๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™™๐™š ๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ง๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ” in the most recent ASoK issue (ASoK 2025, 74).

๐—ฆ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ ๐—ฃ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ:

  • ๐—›๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Protecting trade secrets requires a ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐˜ that combines ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—น, ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€ โ€“ mere confidentiality obligations are not sufficient. We give you an insight on which organisational measures are highly recommended, ie a ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ-๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€.
  • ๐—–๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑs: Trade secrets should be divided into classes according to their importance in order to define appropriate protective measures that meet company requirements.
  • ๐—”๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€: The protective measures must be proportionate to the value of the secrets, the size of the company and the industry โ€“ excessive costs or outdated measures can jeopardize protection.
  • ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ท๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜: Protective measures must be ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ to reflect legal, technical and economic developments.
  • ๐—˜๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ: The introduction, maintenance and monitoring of measures for the protection of classified information regularly ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€.

Find the full article here: https://rdb.manz.at/document/rdb.tso.LIasok20250301