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Företagshemligheter & konkurrensklausuler - en intresseavvägning

Herlog, Camilla LU (2012) HARH16 20122
Department of Business Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Då Sverige har gått från ett industrisamhälle till ett kunskapssamhälle, har även behovet av ett starkare skydd för näringsidkaren uppstått. Dagens kunskapssamhälle har medfört att kunskap och kompetens fått en allt viktigare betydelse i företagens verksamhet. Det har skett en förskjutning från kunskap bunden i realkapital och maskiner till kunskap bunden till personer och personal. De anställda får en allt större tillgång till hemlig information och dokument inom verksamheten. Lagen (1990:409) om skydd för företagshemligheter verkar som ett skydd för näringsidkaren och lagen utgör en noggrann avvägning mellan olika intressen inom konkurrensområdet. Bland annat görs en avvägning mellan näringsidkarens, arbetstagarens och samhällets... (More)
Då Sverige har gått från ett industrisamhälle till ett kunskapssamhälle, har även behovet av ett starkare skydd för näringsidkaren uppstått. Dagens kunskapssamhälle har medfört att kunskap och kompetens fått en allt viktigare betydelse i företagens verksamhet. Det har skett en förskjutning från kunskap bunden i realkapital och maskiner till kunskap bunden till personer och personal. De anställda får en allt större tillgång till hemlig information och dokument inom verksamheten. Lagen (1990:409) om skydd för företagshemligheter verkar som ett skydd för näringsidkaren och lagen utgör en noggrann avvägning mellan olika intressen inom konkurrensområdet. Bland annat görs en avvägning mellan näringsidkarens, arbetstagarens och samhällets intresse. Genom FHL skyddas näringsidkaren mot risk för spridning av företagshemligheter genom den så kallade lojalitetsplikten. Lojalitetsplikten är djupt rotad och allmänt accepterad på arbetsmarknaden och innebär en tystnadsplikt och ett konkurrensförbud. Dessa förpliktelser gäller under anställningens gång. Vid anställningens slut är arbetstagaren fri att nyttja sina personliga kunskaper, erfarenhet och skicklighet. Arbetstagaren är även fri att nyttja det företagsspecifika kunnande som denne tagit del av under anställning. För att förhindra att detta sker kan arbetstagaren förlänga arbetstagarens lojalitetsplikt genom en konkurrensklausul i enlighet med FHL 7 § 2 st. En konkurrensklausul syftar till att förhindra en arbetstagare att nyttja eller sprida företagshemligheter och annat företagsspecifikt kunnande efter anställningens upphörande. Konkurrensklausuler förekommer både i anställningsavtal och i avtal om företagsöverlåtelse och kombineras oftast med ett avtalsvite, som betalas ut vid brott mot konkurrensförbudet. Användningen av konkurrensklausuler och bedömningen av dess giltighet har kommit att präglats av 1969 års överenskommelse mellan SAF, SIF, SALF och CF. Arbetsdomstolen har i sin praxis i hög grad fäst avseende vid de principer som återfinns i överenskommelsen. Det har sedan en tid tillbaka pågått en omfattande debatt om konkurrensklausuler. Många debattörer är kritiska till användandet av konkurrensklausuler då de kan ses som ”döden för en bransch” och som hämmande för tillväxten. Men det finns även de som anser att konkurrensklausuler är något positivt då de bidrar till en sund konkurrens och därigenom leder till innovation och tillväxt. (Less)
Abstract
As Sweden has gone from an industrial society to a knowledge based society, the need for an increased protection for the employer has developed. In this knowledge based society, the importance of knowledge and skills has increased in enterprises. There has been a shift from knowledge bound in real capital and machinery to knowledge attached to people and employees. The employees are getting more access to classified information and documents within the business. The act (1990:409) on the Protection of Trade Secrets, acts as a protection for the employer. The act includes a thorough balance between the employer, the employee and the public interest. The above mentioned act protects the employer against the risk of the spread of trade... (More)
As Sweden has gone from an industrial society to a knowledge based society, the need for an increased protection for the employer has developed. In this knowledge based society, the importance of knowledge and skills has increased in enterprises. There has been a shift from knowledge bound in real capital and machinery to knowledge attached to people and employees. The employees are getting more access to classified information and documents within the business. The act (1990:409) on the Protection of Trade Secrets, acts as a protection for the employer. The act includes a thorough balance between the employer, the employee and the public interest. The above mentioned act protects the employer against the risk of the spread of trade secrets by the so called duty of loyalty. The duty of loyalty is deeply rooted and accepted in the labor market and implies a duty of confidentiality and non-competing agreement. These obligations apply during the employment. At the end of the employment, the employee is free to use his or her personal knowledge, experience and skills. The employee is also free to use the trade secrets which he or she has taken part of during the employment. To prevent this from happening, the employer can extend the employee's duty of loyalty by a non-competition clause in agreement with the act’s section 7 paragraph 2. A non-competition clause is intended to prevent an employee from using or disseminating trade secrets and other know-how after termination of the employment. Non-competition clauses occur both in employment contracts and contracts for the transfer of business, and is frequently combined with a fine, which the employee pays if he or she breaks or violates the non-competition clause. The use of a non-competition clause and the assessing of its validity have come to be characterized by the agreement of 1969 between SAF, SIF SALF and CF. The Labour Court has in case law attached an importance to the principles contained in the agreement. There has for some time been an extensive debate about non-competition clauses. Many commentators are critical to the use of these kinds of clauses, and some say that they can be seen as the death of an industry and that they inhibit growth. But there are also those who believe that the non-competition clauses are something positive because they help to ensure fair competition, thereby leading to innovation and growth. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Herlog, Camilla LU
supervisor
organization
course
HARH16 20122
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
företagshemlighet, konkurrensklausul, know-how, lojalitetplikt, patent
language
Swedish
id
3164112
date added to LUP
2012-11-14 13:58:01
date last changed
2012-11-14 13:58:01
@misc{3164112,
  abstract     = {{As Sweden has gone from an industrial society to a knowledge based society, the need for an increased protection for the employer has developed. In this knowledge based society, the importance of knowledge and skills has increased in enterprises. There has been a shift from knowledge bound in real capital and machinery to knowledge attached to people and employees. The employees are getting more access to classified information and documents within the business. The act (1990:409) on the Protection of Trade Secrets, acts as a protection for the employer. The act includes a thorough balance between the employer, the employee and the public interest. The above mentioned act protects the employer against the risk of the spread of trade secrets by the so called duty of loyalty. The duty of loyalty is deeply rooted and accepted in the labor market and implies a duty of confidentiality and non-competing agreement. These obligations apply during the employment. At the end of the employment, the employee is free to use his or her personal knowledge, experience and skills. The employee is also free to use the trade secrets which he or she has taken part of during the employment. To prevent this from happening, the employer can extend the employee's duty of loyalty by a non-competition clause in agreement with the act’s section 7 paragraph 2. A non-competition clause is intended to prevent an employee from using or disseminating trade secrets and other know-how after termination of the employment. Non-competition clauses occur both in employment contracts and contracts for the transfer of business, and is frequently combined with a fine, which the employee pays if he or she breaks or violates the non-competition clause. The use of a non-competition clause and the assessing of its validity have come to be characterized by the agreement of 1969 between SAF, SIF SALF and CF. The Labour Court has in case law attached an importance to the principles contained in the agreement. There has for some time been an extensive debate about non-competition clauses. Many commentators are critical to the use of these kinds of clauses, and some say that they can be seen as the death of an industry and that they inhibit growth. But there are also those who believe that the non-competition clauses are something positive because they help to ensure fair competition, thereby leading to innovation and growth.}},
  author       = {{Herlog, Camilla}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Företagshemligheter & konkurrensklausuler - en intresseavvägning}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}