What resources do we have to protect innovation in the health sector? We are very familiar with the patent system, but the 2016 EU Trade Secrets Directive has unified and strengthened the protection of trade secrets, providing legal tools and remedies similar to other intellectual property rights. However, there are pros and cons, which is why CataloniaBio & HealthTech organised a webinar to learn about trade secret protection as an alternative to patents. The webinar is an initiative of the CataloniaBio & HealthTech Internal Innovation Committee.

In order to analyse the possibilities and risks for healthcare companies we Tobias Steins, partner at Hoffmann Eitle, member of CataloniaBio & HealthTech. Steins has been a specialist in patent litigation for more than 15 years, representing clients predominantly in the fields of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and electronics.

As Steins explained, the standard approach is the process of patenting knowledge, but it has some drawbacks. For example, those we already know, such as the high costs, the risk of not being granted, the maintenance, the limitation in time of the protection... The question of whether the commercial secret can offer longer protection (try keeping a secret for 20 years!) and be cheaper (you need a budget because there will be constant logistic and administrative costs) does not have a two-sided answer. For this reason, Steins reviewed the pros and cons and what are all the necessary steps to have the knowledge and assess, since “Trade secret is not absolute, unlike patent protection, but there may be some advantages, or the system may suite your needs better.”

The session served to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the protection of trade secrets versus the protection of patents, as well as the implementation and freedom to operate of a company. The subject of the webinar was proposed by the Internal Innovation Committee, and the online format was chosen to make it easier and more accessible to share the knowledge. In the future, we plan to repeat the experience with new topics arising from the Committee's proposal or from individual members, who will be encouraged to submit proposals.