The Protection Of Trade Secrets In China

For business investors in China, the legal handling of trade secrets is often crucial. However, initiatives are often complicated by a patchwork trade secrets protection system – pieced together haphazardly over the last two decades and drawing on disparate elements of competition law, contract law, employment law, and criminal law – that diverges in significant ways from global standards and corresponding regimes in other countries. Now at last interested parties can benefit richly from a thorough and practical approach to the subject. This detailed analysis of China’s trade secrets law provides in-depth information and guidance on such important factors as the following: the current framework of China’s trade secrets law, its past development and its ongoing trends; legal comparison of China’s trade secrets law with various international, regional, and national schemes; what constitutes trade secrets infringement in China and what remedies are available; and the legal interaction in China between employment relations and trade secrets protection. The author pays close attention to judicial practice and precedent in the areas of civil remedies, criminal punishment, and administrative penalties. She also offers insightful proposals formulated to align China’s trade secrets law more efficiently with prevailing global standards and generally improve the mechanisms for its implementation. Corporate counsel and international lawyers concerned with intellectual property rights or labour law in China will greatly appreciate the knowledgeable guidance this book affords. They will gain a deeply informed perspective that allows them to avoid infringement, to battle it effectively if occasion arises, and to plan dispute resolution strategies for contingencies involving trade secrets protection in China.

In recent years, as companies implement strategies to protect their intellectual property in a competitive environment with rapidly developing technology, trade secret protection law has gained increasing importance. This is especially true in Asia, where the staggering commercial value of trade secrets, fierce cross-border competition, and large-scale labour mobility characterize the region’s economy. This book – the first systematic study of trade secret protection law covering a number of key Asian jurisdictions – provides a detailed analysis of the relevant statutory and case law of Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and India. In addition, a chapter on European Union trade secret protection law is included for further purposes of comparison. Thirty-one local experts provide a clear overview of national laws and practices by examining the following aspects of their respective national regimes: requirements of trade secrets; validity and scope of confidentiality and/or non-competition clauses; burden of proof and its shifting or reversal; order for protecting the secrecy of a trade secret during prosecution and trial; civil remedies (injunctive relief and damages); and criminal punishment for trade secret infringement. With its authoritative insights and comprehensive coverage of the dynamic and multifaceted development of trade secret protection law in Asia, the book will be a primer for practitioners, corporate counsels, judges, and scholars concerned with cross-border protection of intellectual assets.

Although every country seeks out information on other nations, China is the leading threat when it comes to the theft of intellectual assets, including inventions, patents, and R&D secrets. Trade Secret Theft, Industrial Espionage, and the China Threat provides an overview of economic espionage as practiced by a range of nations from around the world—focusing on the mass scale in which information is being taken for China's growth and development. Supplying a current look at espionage, the book details the specific types of information China has targeted for its collection efforts in the past. It explains what China does to prepare for its massive collection efforts and describes what has been learned about China's efforts during various Congressional hearings, with expert advice and details from both the FBI and other government agencies. This book is the product of hundreds of hours of research, with material, both primary and secondary, reviewed, studied, and gleaned from numerous sources, including White House documentation and various government agencies. Within the text, you will learn the rationale and techniques used to obtain information in the past. You will see a bit of history over centuries where espionage has played a role in the economy of various countries and view some cases that have come to light when individuals were caught. The book supplies an understanding of how the economy of a nation can prosper or suffer, depending on whether that nation is protecting its intellectual property, or whether it is stealing such property for its own use. The text concludes by outlining specific measures that corporations and their employees can practice to protect their information and assets, both at home and abroad.

Trade secret protection has long been of critical strategic importance to business interests and globalization of commerce has driven an increasing need to govern the preservation of confidentiality in international business transactions. This book off

The rapid evolution of China from an emerging to a mature intellectual property jurisdiction has far-reaching implications for the law, policy and practice of IP, and their links with competition and technology law. Produced in the year China rose to fourth rank globally as user of the international patent system, this volume is an invaluable guide for the policymaker, the analyst and the practitioner alike, setting a thorough exposition of the substantive law and its application within a broader policy context, and offering a comprehensive, timely overview of an IP system just at the time it begins to assume central significance on the world stage. Antony Taubman, Director, IP Division, WTO This edited volume offers an excellent comprehensive overview of China s intellectual property and technology laws. The eminent contributors to this volume have played important roles in shaping China s IP system and in tackling the many challenges confronting it. By making their views of the system readily accessible to an English audience, this volume will undoubtedly add to our understanding of the legal protections and challenges facing innovation industries in China. Mark Wu, Harvard Law School, US The pioneering studies in this book examine the fundamental role of intellectual property and technology laws as China is moving from made in China to created in China . This book also helps us to understand about the interplay between China s intellectual property protection system and the potential for transition of China s economy, and provides numerous means to deal with the legislative difficulties in China s innovation-oriented strategy. Wu Handong, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China Written by some of China s leading academic experts and with a foreword by the former Chief Justice of the IP Tribunal of China s Supreme People s Court, this book combines for the very first time a review of both Chinese intellectual property and technology laws in a single volume in English. The book initially focuses on recent amendments to the laws of copyright, trademarks, patents, before moving on to discuss unfair competition and trade secrets, and the protection of intellectual property over electronic networks. Other chapters cover the regulation of digital networks and telecommunications; IT and E-commerce; the new antimonopoly law and competition; and China s position on the TRIPS agreement. Of special note is a chapter written by in-house Counsel and the Chairman of the Quality Brands Protection Committee (a coalition of well known multinational brands) reviewing both brand protection and practical enforcement of intellectual property in China. This book will appeal to scholars and postgraduate students in commercial law (especially in IP, trade, competition, and technology), Chinese studies and business, as well as regulators, international agencies and law firms. Management consultancy and accounting firms, banks and investment firms will also find this book invaluable.

Intellectual property law and practice in China has changed dramatically since the first edition of this influential book published in 2005. Today, judicial and administrative application of law plays a major role, and accordingly this entirely rewritten new edition draws on an abundance of court and administrative decisions clarifying how the law is applied. In a thorough and systematic manner, the authors clearly demonstrate the sophisticated level of legal certainty available for domestic and foreign entities doing business in China, including the adaptation of the legal framework to new technologies, broadened scope of protected subject matter, improved quality of filings, and significant enhancement of enforcement not only with regard to remedies but also to procedural aspects. Providing comprehensive coverage of all aspects of intellectual property protection in China – including analysis of IP-related provisions of China’s new Civil Code – the book emphasizes issues of concern to foreign traders and investors such as the following: copyright law and software protection; protection of trademarks, including Chinese character and Roman script trademarks, well-known marks and bad faith applications; technology transfer; enforcement of trade secret and patent protection; criminal liability for infringement; unfair competition and antitrust law; role of the binding interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court; administrative regulations that supplement the laws; co-operation with administrative authorities; protection of geographical indications; protection of trade names; domain name dispute resolution; special patent-related laws protecting such areas as plant varieties, integrated circuit layout designs,; and relevant provisions of the distinct laws of Hong Kong and Macao. Full descriptions of the competencies of China’s IP-related institutions are included with detailed attention to procedural matters. Brief historical notes in each chapter feature the most significant changes in each amendment of law and regulation. Because in China the laws are supplemented and interpreted by numerous guidelines and circulars issued by ministries or courts, the up-to-date knowledge and awareness provided in this new edition is essential for all companies investing in China or considering such investment, as well as for practitioners counselling their clients on strategies. In addition, officials and policymakers involved in trade or other relations with China will benefit from a comprehensive update of what the current law is and a critical view of what the challenges are. “...the 2021 IPLCN is a recommended read for those who seek a well-written English textbook which covers the main principles of Chinese IP Law. Clearly outlined, it is probably one of the best of its kind on the market. Its existence is welcome and necessary in the current era, where languages are still obstacles.” By Tian Lu, Book Review for The IP Kitten, September 2021.