LD Hamburg, November 19, 2024, oder on confidentiality of patent transfer documents, UPC_CFI_169/2024

The court restricted the access to unredacted versions of a brief and an exhibit to the legal representatives insofar as they are authorized to represent their party before the UPC and to their internal assistants who are required for cooperation in the present litigation. Further, the court allowed access to these documents to specific individuals associated with defendants 2), 3) and 4) and who are their Legal Counsel.

Article 9(1) and (2)(a) of Directive (EU) 2016/943 provides that, in judicial proceedings, access to documents submitted by the parties or third parties containing trade secrets or alleged trade secrets may be restricted, in whole or in part, to a limited number of persons on application. The protection of confidential information is provided for in the UPCA in Art. 58 and implemented in R. 262A RoP. According to R. 262A.5 RoP, the court may allow the application considering in particular whether the grounds relied upon by the applicant for the order significantly outweigh the interest of the other party to have full access to the information and evidence in question. Therefore, the court has to weigh the parties’ interests against each other in the light of the circumstances of the individual case. The court has to weigh in particular the right to be heard against the right to a fair hearing of the party affected by the access restriction, and the interest of the party requesting confidentiality protection in the protection of its confidential information.