No L 50/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 19. 2. 87 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 15 December 1986 in proceedings under Article 85 of the EEC Treaty (IV/31.302 — Boussois/Interpane) (Only the German and French texts are authentic) (87/123/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Having regard to Council Regulation No 17 of 6 February 1962, First Regulation implementing Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty (), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, and in particular Articles 4, 6 and 8 thereof, Having regard to the application filed on 1 August 1984 by Boussois SA, of Levallois-Perret, France, and Interpane Entwicklungs- und Beratungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, of Lauenférde, Federal Republic of Germany, for negative clearance or alternatively exemption under Article 85 (3) of an agreement which they had signed on 3 and § September 1983 for an indefinite period, Having published a summary of the application in accor- dance with Article 19 (3) of Regulation No 17 (3, Having consulted the Advisory Committee om Restrictive Practices and Monopolies, Whereas : 1. FACTS A. Subject-matter of the agreement () The agreement concerns the transfer by the German firm Interpane to the French firm Bous- ) OJ No 13, 21. 2. 1962, p. 204/62. §1) OJ No C 218, 29. 8. 1986, p. 2. @ sois of a body of technical information, some patented and some not, in connection with the sale to Boussois of a production plant for applying fine thermal insulation coatings to flat glass to produce insulating ‘low-emissivity’ glass for double-glazing units. The coating technology used in the plant is one of several processes based on the principle of depositing alternate layers of a precious metal and a metal oxide. The novel technology developed by Interpane involves the alternation of bismuth oxide with silver (called ‘colour-neutral coatings’) or gold (called ‘gold coatings’) which maintains a high degree of transparency of the glass. The new plant sold to Boussois entered service in France in 1985. The licensed technology mainly consists of unpa- tented technical information that is secret and is of substancial importance (‘’know-how’). One of the types of coatings is patented in some Member States, however. k The unpatented know-how licensed to Boussois is substantial in that it comprises the following bodies of detailed information about both the production plant and the insulating coatings themselves : — Interpane’s latest technology, at the time the production plant is handed over, concerning the assembly, commissioning and operation of the plant; in particular, Interpane gives Bous- sois full details of the design of the plant and of its operating methods and procedures ; for this purpose, plans, drawings and descriptions of materials and operations are attached to the contract, together with specifications of the performance characteristics of the plant and each type of product, lists of the materials and consumables Boussois will have to keep in