As for most European jurisdictions, competition rules prevail over contractual arrangements. Licenses of trade secrets are subject to Commission Regulation (EC) 316/2014 of March 21, 2014 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to categories of technology transfer agreements. Such licenses are exempted from the application of Article 101(1) of the treaty in case the parties' joint market share does not surpass certain thresholds and if the licensed technology rights have not expired, lapsed or been declared invalid or, in the case of know-how, for as long as the know-how remains secret, except if the disclosure of the know-how is the result of an action by the licensee (in which case the exemption shall only apply for the duration of the agreement). In any case, trade secrets licenses containing any of the hardcore restrictions listed in Section 4 of aforementioned regulation are not exempted.
Trade secrets
Ownership / licenses
Luxembourg
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