Unfair Competition and Undisclosed Information

Any intellectual or commercial activity, in relation to industrial property rights that is not in accordance with honest practices Is considered as an act of unfair competition. The disclosure, acquisition or use of confidential information by others without the consent of the rightful holder may, in particular, result from:

Industrial or commercial espionage
Breach of contract
Breach of confidence
Inducement to commit industrial or commercial espionage, breach of confidence or contract
Acquisition of confidential information by a third party who knew or was grossly negligent in failing to know that this acquisition entailed one of the foregoing acts.

An act of unfair competition includes:

Confusion with another's enterprise or its activities
Damaging another's goodwill or reputation
Misleading the public
Discrediting another's enterprise or its activities
Unfair commercial use of undisclosed tests or other data, the origination of which involves considerable effort, and which were required as a condition of obtaining approval of the marketing of pharmaceutical, agricultural or chemical products which utilise new chemical entities and which were in fact submitted to the appropriate authority; or
The disclosure of such data, except where necessary to protect the public, or unless measures have been taken to ensure that the data are protected against unfair commercial use

An information is considered Undisclosed when:

It is a secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question;
It has commercial value because it is secret; and
Its legitimate holder has taken reasonable steps, under the circumstances, to keep it secret.

Unfair Competition and Undisclosed Information

Unfair Competition and Undisclosed Information

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