The decision handed down by the French Supreme Court on 14 May 2025 illustrates the articulation between trade secrets and Article 145 of the French Code of Civil Procedure, under which a judge may order all investigative measures that are legally admissible if there is a legitimate reason to preserve or establish evidence of facts on which the outcome of a dispute depends.
In the case at hand, by an order based on a non-contradictory request, a Commercial Court authorized the seizure of documents by a bailiff, provided that they be placed in temporary escrow; the release of the escrow being conditional upon a contradictory judicial decision or an amicable agreement.
As the respondent did not initiate summary proceedings for withdrawal of the aforementioned order within one month, the claimant brought proceedings before the interim relief judge for the release and disclosure of the documents. The respondent opposed this, invoking trade secrets.
The French Supreme Court upheld the decision of the trial judges who had ruled, pursuant to Article R. 153-1, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the French Commercial Code, that where the respondent fails to submit a request for withdrawal or modification of the order within one month, the respondent was no longer admissible to invoke the protection of trade secrets to oppose the release of the provisional escrow measure and the communication of the documents to the claimant.
