Five years ago, the regulations for the protection of confidential know-how and trade secrets were amended for better protection. This protection is only offered under certain conditions, inter alia appropriate secrecy measures.
The Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) got to the heart of this in its decision 4Ob 195/24s of 19 November 2020: in the case in question, a former employee of the plaintiff and now employee of a competing company, was still able to access the plaintiff’s company server with her password months after her employment had ended.
The Supreme Court rightly demands that access to the IT system be blocked immediately for an employee who is leaving. The plaintiff has therefore not taken appropriate confidentiality measures.
The lawsuit was consequently dismissed, although it was established that the former employee had accessed customer data of her former employer.
The decision confirms once again: if you want to take legal action to protect your trade secrets, you must first protect them yourself.