UPC Court of Appeal, 1 August 2025: Party confidentiality restrictions are primarily subject confidentiality club regimes
17-10-2025 Print this page
Restrictions on access to and use of information by a party and its representatives may only be subject to restrictions in accordance with R. 262A RoP.
An application under Rule 262.2 RoP does not automatically grant provisional protection against the disclosure of information by the other party. A party's written submissions and evidence are, in principle, made directly accessible to the other party without any restrictions as to its use or recipients, unless a simultaneous request is made under R. 262A.1 RoP when the document is lodged. R. 262.2 RoP relates only to a limitation of access to documents to the public.
An applicant who does not request protection of the relevant information at the time of its submission does not take the necessary confidentiality measures. This results in the information losing its character as a trade secret. For this reason a request under R. 262A.3 RoP cannot be granted at a later stage.
Trade secret product characteristics are those that are not readily available to third parties but can only be determined after time-consuming analysis (Article 58 UPCA, Article 2 Trade Secrets Directive).
Scope of confidentiality obligation (Article 58 UPCA, R. 262A RoP). Confidentiality requests cannot be so broad so as to prevent a party from divulging to third parties information that it obtained through legal means outside of the procedure (such as through its own measurements or tests).
