Abstract

The article analyzes the impact of the obligations arising under the Data Act on the system of trade secret protection. The author highlights the tension between the principle of data openness and the need to safeguard know-how, which constitutes one of the key challenges in the practical application of the regulation.
The article discusses the concept of a trade secret. It also examines the categories of data and their possible qualification as trade secrets. Particular attention is devoted to the confidentiality safeguards provided for in the Data Act, the limitations on data disclosure, and the FRAND principles in B2B relations.
In the section devoted to the Business-to-Government (B2G) model, the obligations of businesses to share data with the public sector are presented. Another important issue is the admissibility of reverse engineering - regarded as a legal tool for accessing data, yet raising concerns about the risk of undermining trade secret protection.
The ultimate challenge remains the development of solutions that will simultaneously foster the growth of a data-driven economy and ensure the protection of businesses’ strategic interests.