2024-03-04 - LD The Hague - Plant-e Knowledge v. Arkyne Technologies - UPC_CFI_239/2023
- Aktenzeichen:
- UPC_CFI_239/2023
- Datum:
- Spruchkörper:
- Court of First Instance - The Hague (NL) Local Division
- Art:
- Procedural Order
- Parteien:
- Plant-e, Plant-e Knowledge v. Arkyne Technologies S.L.
Kernaussage: Application under R.
2024-03-04 - LD The Hague - Plant-e Knowledge
v.
Arkyne Technologies - UPC_CFI_239/2023
Application under R. 262A RoP by the claimants for a confidentiality order regarding financial information provided with their reply to an Application under R. 158 RoP. Application granted. Access to confidential information limited to counsel only with the consent of the Parties.
notable
The Hague Local Division granted Plant-e a R. 262A RoP confidentiality order over financial information (investment amounts, sales funnel, projected sales) submitted with its reply to Arkyne's (Bioo's) R. 158 RoP security-for-costs application. Applying Art. 58 UPCA and R. 262A.1/.6 RoP, the judge-rapporteur held that the information qualified as 'other confidential information' and that allowing access to a natural person of the competitor would distort competition contrary to Art. 42(2) UPCA, particularly because Bioo's position in the main action and the R. 158 application did not require that access. The order engages with whether R. 262A.6 RoP — which, mirroring Art. 9(2) last subparagraph of Directive (EU) 2016/943, requires access for at least one natural person per party — always applies, or whether the 'prohibited' wording in R. 262A.1 / Art. 58 UPCA leaves room for attorneys-eyes-only regimes where the confidential information is not the essence of the case. The court granted the application on the parties' agreed attorneys-eyes-only basis, confined use to the R. 158 application and noted that the underlying R. 158 application had already been dismissed without regard to the redacted information.
Stichwörter
R.262A confidentiality. Access limited to counsel.