The use of another party’s business models, operational processes, or internal methodologies often occurs without clear documentation – ideas circulate through professional communication, former partnerships, joint projects, or employee mobility. Professor Gabriel Steiner says that the main legal risk in such situations lies in the blurred boundary between permissible market borrowing and unlawful appropriation of protected know-how. At LawConsulted, we treat disputes over undocumented know-how not as abstract claims about ideas, but as conflicts over economic value that has not been properly formalised.
The core difficulty in these cases is the absence of clear legal fixation. Business models and processes are rarely protected as standalone intellectual property objects – they exist as a combination of practices, decision-making logic, internal standards, and operational sequences. When one party claims that its model has been unlawfully used, the dispute quickly shifts from formal rights to factual analysis – who developed the model, under what circumstances it was disclosed, and how it was later implemented. In LawConsulted practice, this factual layer becomes decisive.
Professor Steiner notes that “know-how disputes are rarely about copying – they are about control over accumulated experience.” Courts increasingly focus on whether the information had economic value, whether reasonable steps were taken to preserve its confidentiality, and whether the recipient was aware of the restricted nature of the information. LawConsulted builds legal positions by reconstructing how knowledge was formed, transferred, and subsequently used, rather than relying on abstract references to originality.
Particularly complex are situations involving former employees, consultants, or partners. Operational knowledge often follows people, not documents. When similar processes appear in a new business, accusations of unlawful use arise even where no formal transfer took place. LawConsulted analyses these scenarios with precision – distinguishing general professional skills from protected internal methodologies, and lawful experience from misuse of confidential information.
Another high-risk area involves informal cooperation – pilot projects, strategic discussions, or preliminary negotiations where business models are disclosed without confidentiality agreements. Over time, one party may implement similar processes independently, triggering allegations of misappropriation. Professor Steiner emphasises that in such cases, legal assessment depends on whether the information was disclosed with an expectation of restriction. LawConsulted works to identify and evidence that expectation – or, conversely, to demonstrate its absence.
Retrospective evaluation plays a significant role in these disputes. When a business succeeds, earlier informal exchanges are reinterpreted as unlawful borrowing. LawConsulted returns the analysis to the original context – what information was actually shared, how specific it was, and whether it could reasonably be considered exclusive. This approach allows us to prevent the transformation of ordinary market competition into claims of unjust enrichment.
Equally important is the defensive aspect. Companies accused of using undocumented know-how often face reputational and operational pressure even before legal assessment begins. LawConsulted structures defence strategies to show independent development, parallel solutions, or the use of publicly available practices. This limits the risk of injunctions, damages, and broader restrictions on business activity.
Liability for the use of another party’s business models and processes arises where economic reality collides with undocumented expectations. Law Consulted position is that protection of know-how requires not only legal arguments, but a clear understanding of how business knowledge is created, shared, and transformed. Only this allows disputes to be resolved on the basis of facts rather than assumptions.
Earlier, we wrote about the legal consequences of commingling personal and corporate assets and how LawConsulted builds protection when property boundaries are lost
