Processing of Identification Data for Investigating the Disclosure of Trade Secrets
A corporate subscriber may process identification data to prevent and investigate the disclose of trade secrets, when the conditions set in legislation are met. Trade secrets in this context are business or professional secrets or other comparable business information which the trader keeps secret and the disclosure of which would be likely to cause financial damage either to it or to another trader who has trusted the information to it.
The right to process is limited to investigating and preventing the disclosure of key trade secrets. Identification data on non-essential trade secrets may not be processed in order to prevent or identify the disclosure of such trade secrets. The essentiality of a trade secret is determined by the corporate subscriber's own operations, industry and practices used within it, as well as the instructions given to the user. Key trade secrets may include, for example, information that gives a company a competitive advantage, or information on the processing and protection of which the corporate subscriber, acting as an employer, has made special instructions or otherwise designated otherwise expressly declared confidential because it involves significant financial interests.
The use of automatic searches is possible, as it is regarding unauthorized use, if the above-mentioned prior obligations have been met and the above-mentioned criteria concerning the quality of trade secrets are met. Identification data may be processed manually to investigate the disclosure of a trade secret if the trade secret can justifiably be suspected to have occurred through a communications network or communication service. In addition, it is a prerequisite that
an anomaly has been detected in the data transmission using the automatic search function;
the trade secret is published, or it is used without permission; or
in an individual case, it can be inferred from another comparable, generally observable fact that a trade secret has been disclosed to an outside party without authorization.