The betrayal of a trade secret by the employee during the employment relationship is punishable by law and creates an obligation to pay damages if the secret was entrusted on the basis of the employment relationship. The same applies to industrial espionage. A trade secret is understood to be any fact related to a business or operation which:
- the business owner recognizably keeps secret,
- only a limited circle of persons knows and
- is not easily accessible to other persons.
Business or trade secrets can be:
- all economic data of a company that are not readily accessible to outsiders
- design and manufacturing processes
- technical know-how
- customer and price lists
- personnel matters
General penalty range: 10 days – 6 months imprisonment and a fine, if the violation of the trade secret serves anti-competitive purposes; 3 months – 5 years imprisonment for interference with electronic computer data containing secrets of public or private companies or state secrets.
Characteristic examples are the handing over of secret documents to a competing company, the interference with the electronic data of a company with the aim of copying certain secret data or even the entire electronic program, etc.
The following professional groups, for example, are subject to a special duty to safeguard third-party trade secrets:
- Doctors and pharmacists
- Psychologists
- Lawyers and notaries
- Auditors, tax advisors, accountants
- Public officials