Employees, Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants in Spain

Employees, Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants in Spain
Carmen María Garcia Mirete

ISBN 978-90-411-8379-8
Kluwer Law International BV, The Netherlands

In recent decades, the possibilities for protecting trade secrets in Spain were limited: the former Trademark Act of 19881 that contained a general clause against acts of unfair competition, the Employment Contract Act2 that included a prohibition on employees from using trade secrets and, inally, the disclosure of secrets that was part of the Criminal Code of 1973.3 These three laws are no longer in force. In spite of the economic and social importance of trade secrets, these were not speciically protected under the Civil or Commercial Codes until the enactment of the Law on Unfair Competition (LUC) in 1991.4 Neither the legislature nor academics
dedicated much effort to this subject matter prior to this date. Compared to other countries – such as the US, UK or Germany – Spanish laws and decisions on this subject matter are relatively recent. The number of cases has been increasing during the last years and interest in this subject has generated a diverse group of rules.