Provisions Related to the Legal Protection of "Know-how": Implemented Solutions from the Macedonian Legislation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the provisions that are applicable for regulation of the legal protection of "know­how". Since, there are no universally adopted provisions for regulation of the legal protection of this institute within the countries’ legislations, nor in the international regulations, the legal protection of this institute is still provoking a significant controversy. The provisions for its protection are mainly contained within the laws that are regulating the transfer of the intellectual property rights; the laws regulating competition; laws of obligations and criminal codes, which by their nature only partially cover all the cases where "know­how" could be violated and  protected. Therefore, in order to obtain a more precise perspective on how these laws are applied on the legal protection of "know­how" and the agreements that are allowing its transmission, we have provided a detailed  analysis of these issues, by dividing the elaborations, under this article into three parts. The first part is devoted to the analysis of provision related to the legal civil protection of "know­how", whilst the second part is devoted to the elaboration of the provisions related to the legal criminal protection of this institute. Finally, considering the fact that the topic is addressing to the legal protection of "know­how" in Macedonia, the article will give a further analysis of the adequacy of the solutions contained within the Macedonian legislation, and the possible directions towards its harmonization with the European legislation in this domain.

Keywords: "Know­how", Trade Secret, Competition Law, Legal Civil Protection, Legal Criminal Protection.