Publication details
Nehmotné majetkové statky a jejich ochrana v občanském zákoníku
| Title in English | Intangible Economic Assets and their Protection in the Czech Civil Code |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Law sciences |
| Keywords | unfair competition; relative rights; thing in legal sense; object of rights; intangible assets; intangible things; corporeal objects; New Czech Civil Code; trade secrets protection |
| Description | This paper concerns legal protection of intangible assets in the Czech Civil Code. Firstly, the author defines different categories of the intangible assets then he deals with those intangibles which are not subject to specific intellectual property legislation and are subject-matter of property rights. The author tries to define which intangibles (e.g. know-how, trade secrets, unregistered indications, domain names) can be protected by provisions of the Civil Code and simultaneously analyzes which private proprietary rights (of an absolute and relative nature) are related to such intangible assets. The author expresses the opinion that proprietary intangible assets which are not explicitly associated with erga omnes rights, can be protected just by the right of lien or obligations (arising ex contractu or ex delicto). However, intangible assets cannot be subject matter of property in the subjective sense (Art. 1012 of the Civil Code). Such an interpretation would lead to an unlimited legal dominion over any intangible property (including information) and the special protection provided by the intellectual property legislation would be meaningless. These findings the author also applies to the protection of trade secrets, which should be protected just by the unfair competition claims (Art. 2985 of the Civil Code). |