A nova disciplina dos segredos de negócio: análise e sugestões

By the end of 2018 the new Portuguese Industrial Property Code was enacted. Amongst other novelties, the Code establishes a new swt of rules on trade secrets going beyond what the Directive (EU) 2016/943 required. The main innovations are the separation of trade secrets from unfair competition, which means that the rules can now be invoked even against non-competitors, strengthened remedies as well as procedural rules, namely those meant to ensure the confidentiality of proceedings. This text aims to critically analyse the new regime, pointing out its flaws, some of which are weighty, and putting forward possible changes in order to remedy them.