How to determine whether parts are known to the public in trade secret infringement cases

According to my country's current laws on the protection of trade secrets, the corresponding legal relief channels can be divided into civil channels, administrative channels and criminal channels. How to determine "not known to the public" in a trade secret infringement case? The editor of Legal Savior Network has compiled the following content to answer your questions. I hope it will be helpful to you.

How to determine that it is not known to the public in a trade secret infringement case

Confidentiality in trade secret cases, i.e. "Not known to the public" means that a certain information or technology is not generally known to the public and cannot be directly obtained from public channels. The so-called "open channels" generally include the following situations:

(1) Published in publicly available publications and able to be implemented.

(2) The product is sold and displayed publicly.

(3) The trade secret is used publicly.

(4) Speaking orally, reporting, Audiovisual reports, simulation demonstrations, etc. are made available to the public. It should be noted here that the impact of the “results appraisal meeting” on the confidentiality judgment of technical information does not necessarily destroy the confidentiality. After the technical achievements containing trade secrets are completed, an achievement appraisal meeting will be held as usual. According to relevant regulations, the appraisal meeting is a secret meeting, and the participants have the obligation to keep it confidential. Therefore, the symbolA satisfactory appraisal will not legally undermine the confidentiality of the trade secret. The so-called "public" generally refers to the unspecified majority of people in society, but the relatively "secret" public refers to subjects who have a competitive relationship with rights holders. Strictly speaking, the confidentiality of a trade secret should be "relatively confidential", that is, the relevant information is known to a certain range of people other than the right holder, and it is also "not known to the public" and does not lose confidentiality.

This mainly refers to two Situations:

(1) Internally related matters within the enterprise Knowledge by employees does not necessarily destroy confidentiality. If a trade secret is “known to relevant employees due to business needs” within the company, and according to the company’s rules and regulations or labor contract, the employee has an express or implicit obligation to keep the trade secret confidential, the information will not be lost. Secrecy.

(2) Not known to business related parties The secrecy must be destroyed.

Trade secrets are disclosed outside the enterprise due to business needs. The raw material suppliers, product sellers, processing contractors, and repairers know that as long as it is limited to a reasonable scope, that is, the insiders do not spread, and in accordance with industry customs or the agreement of the parties, these external insiders have the obligation to keep confidential. Such knowledge does not affect the confidentiality of the information. The confidentiality of trade secrets is not premised on "novelty". If information with novel characteristics is made public, it will not become a trade secret because it loses its confidentiality.

"Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China"

Article 9 Operators shall not commit the following acts of infringement of trade secrets:

(1) Obtaining the right holder’s trade secrets through theft, bribery, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion or other improper means;

(2) Disclosing, using or allowing others to use the right holder’s business secrets obtained by means of the previous paragraph ;

(3) Breach of confidentiality obligations or rights disclose, use or allow others to use the trade secrets in their possession;

(4) Instigate, induce, or help others to violate confidentiality obligations or violate the obligee's requirements to keep business secrets, and obtain, disclose, use, or allow others to use the obligee's business secrets.

Other natural persons, legal persons and non-operators other than operators Any legal person organization that commits illegal acts listed in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to have infringed upon business secrets.

The third party knowingly knows or should know that the employee, former employee or other unit or individual of the right holder of the trade secret implements Article 1If you obtain, disclose, use or allow others to use the trade secret despite the illegal acts listed in this paragraph, it will be deemed as a trade secret infringement.

Trade secrets referred to in this Law refer to Technical information, business information and other commercial information that is not known to the public, has commercial value and the rights holder has taken corresponding confidentiality measures.

If you need legal help, readers are welcome to The Legal Savior Network provides legal consultation. The professional legal team of the Legal Savior Network will answer your questions in a timely manner so that you can safeguard your rights and interests in a timely manner.