What is a trade secret?

How you get it

Nothing to register - there is no trade secret register in Switzerland. Protection comes from actually keeping the information secret, backed by the Unfair Competition Act, contract, and art. 162 of the Criminal Code.

How long it lasts

For as long as the information stays secret. No fixed term, nothing to renew.

The catch

Switzerland has no dedicated trade secrets statute and has not implemented EU Directive 2016/943, so there is no statutory definition to point at.

Switzerland is not in the EU or the EEA: an EU trade mark or registered EU design does not cover Switzerland, and the unitary patent does not extend here.

Office: Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI)

How you get it

No registration, no office. Protection comes from the Trade Secrets Act (GeschGehG), in force since April 2019, which implemented EU Directive 2016/943.

How long it lasts

Indefinitely, for as long as the information stays secret and the secrecy measures remain in place.

The catch

Since 2019 information is a trade secret only if the holder took appropriate secrecy measures - and can prove it. Undocumented know-how that relied on the old law may now fall outside the Act.

Germany is in the EU, so the national route sits alongside the EU trade mark and registered EU design at EUIPO, and the European patent at the EPO.

Office: German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA)

How you get it

Automatic, no registration. The law of 30 July 2018 implemented EU Directive 2016/943 into the Code de commerce: information is a secret des affaires if it is secret, has commercial value because it is secret, and is subject to reasonable protection measures.

How long it lasts

Indefinitely, for as long as those three conditions continue to be met.

The catch

It is not an exclusive right. Independent discovery, and reverse engineering of a lawfully held product, are expressly lawful - so the value sits in the protection measures you can prove.

France is in the EU, so the national route sits alongside the EU trade mark and registered EU design at EUIPO, and the European patent at the EPO.

Office: Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI)

How you get it

No registration, no office. Information qualifies as a trade secret under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act only if it meets the statutory definition, so protection depends on how it is handled.

How long it lasts

No fixed term. Protection lasts as long as all three statutory requirements are met, and ends as soon as the information becomes publicly known.

The catch

The Act requires all three at once: useful for business, kept secret, and not publicly known. Information merely labelled confidential but not actually managed as secret fails the second limb.

Copyright is administered by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, not the JPO.

Office: Japan Patent Office (JPO)

How you get it

No registration and no office. Protection arises automatically under the Act on Combating Unfair Competition, amended in 2018 to implement EU Directive 2016/943.

How long it lasts

No fixed term - protection runs for as long as the information stays secret and the holder keeps preserving its confidentiality.

The catch

Information qualifies only if the person entitled to use it has undertaken, with due diligence, actions to keep it confidential. Without documented measures there is no protectable secret at all.

Poland is in the EU but has not signed the Unified Patent Court Agreement, so a unitary patent has no effect in Poland.

Office: Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (UPRP)

How you get it

No registration and no register. Protection arises automatically under the Civil Code once information is secret, has commercial value because it is secret, and the holder takes reasonable steps to keep it so.

How long it lasts

For as long as the information stays secret and those conditions continue to be met.

The catch

Ukraine has no dedicated trade secrets statute and has not implemented EU Directive 2016/943. Enforcement rests on contract, unfair competition law and the Criminal Code, and some categories cannot be secret by law.

The wartime suspension of IP time limits was cancelled with effect from 31 May 2025 and deadlines now run normally. Guidance published before then, saying deadlines are suspended, is out of date.

Office: Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations (UANIPIO)

How you get it

Not a registered right, and no office involved. Protection comes from the action for breach of confidence, supplemented by the Trade Secrets Regulations 2018, and in practice from NDAs and employment terms.

How long it lasts

Indefinitely, for as long as the information stays secret and commercially valuable.

The catch

The 2018 Regulations only protect information the holder has taken reasonable steps to keep secret, so weak internal controls can sink a claim before it starts.

EU rights have not covered the UK since 1 January 2021. The UK remains a party to the European Patent Convention, which is separate from the EU.

Office: UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO)

How you get it

No registration and no office - protection arises from keeping the information secret. Civil claims lie under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act and under state law, which in most states is a version of the UTSA.

How long it lasts

Indefinitely, for as long as the information stays secret and derives economic value from not being generally known. It ends the moment that is no longer true.

The catch

The owner must have taken reasonable measures to keep the information secret, or it is not a trade secret at all. A federal claim must be brought within three years of discovering the misappropriation.

Copyright is handled by the US Copyright Office, not the USPTO. The US has no separate design right: appearance is protected by a design patent.

Office: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)