On January 1, 2022, the Regulation on Judicial Jurisdiction in trade secret disputes will take effect in North Rhine-Westphalia (see the full text here). With this regulation, the state legislature is exercising the concentration authority provided for in Section 15 (3) of the German Act on the Protection of Trade Secret (GeschGehG).
Consequently, in the future, only the following regional courts will have jurisdiction over trade secret disputes in North Rhine-Westphalia (and, incidentally, over cases under the Unfair Competition Act (UWG) as well):
Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (OLG) district: Düsseldorf Regional Court (LG)
Cologne Higher Regional Court (OLG) district: Cologne Regional Court (LG)
Hamm Higher Regional Court (OLG) district: Bochum Regional Court (LG)
Pursuant to the transitional provision in Section 2 of the Regulation, there will be no changes for pending proceedings.
With the exception of North Rhine-Westphalia, only the state of Hesse has so far exercised this concentration authority. There, all cases under the GeschGehG are assigned to the Frankfurt Regional Court.
This is a sensible step. It is to be hoped that other states will follow suit as soon as possible.