Are business secrets subject to protection under the Intellectual Property Law?

Business secrets are subject to industrial property rights according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 3 of the Law on Intellectual Property. To establish intellectual property rights over business secrets, Article 6 of the Intellectual Property Law stipulates: “Industrial property rights to business secrets are established on the basis of legally acquiring the business secret and keeping that business secret confidential.”

Thus, if a business secret is legally obtained, it does not need to be registered for protection but is automatically protected if acts of trade secret infringement occur. (according to Article 127 of the Intellectual Property Law).

What acts violate business secrets?

Infringement of confidential information in business is considered a prohibited act of unfair competition. According to Article 127 of the Law on Intellectual Property Regulations on acts of infringement of rights to business secrets include the following acts:

Firstly, the act of accessing and collecting information belonging to a business secret by opposing the security measures of the person who legally controls that business secret.

• This is a typical act of infringing on business secrets, the violating party actively approaches and collects information by breaking the security measures of the person who has the secret.
• For example: Mr. A is an IT employee of company X who illegally accessed by hacking the computer system storing business secrets owned by company Y.

Second, the act of disclosing and using information belonging to a business secret without the permission of the owner of that business secret.

• This is an act performed by a third person. This person does not directly appropriate the business secret from the owner or legal holder of the secret but receives information from the direct appropriator, other third parties or from public sources after The secret has been revealed. However, even if this person receives the information honestly, the law does not allow them to continue using or transmitting the information to others.
• For example: Mr. K is a member of company A that produces electronic components. After quitting his job at the company, Mr. K founded his own company that also produces electronic components and used company A's business secrets to apply to his company's production without permission. Permission from company A.

See more articles: Is the crime of illegally arresting, detaining or detaining people punishable by imprisonment?

Third, acts of violating confidentiality contracts or deceiving, inducing, bribing, coercing, seducing, or taking advantage of the trust of the person with the confidentiality obligation to access, collect or disclose secrets business.

• A confidentiality contract is a contract under which one contracting party has the right to access confidential business information of an owner but is obligated to keep that information confidential. A party with a duty of confidentiality who discloses information about business secrets to a third party is considered to be infringing on business secrets according to the provisions of the law. In addition, the law also regulates any act of taking advantage of existing relationships to deceive or take advantage of the trust of the person responsible for confidentiality to obtain confidential information about business secrets and then disclose them. Disclosing that information to a third person is also considered an infringement of business secrets.
• For example: Enterprise XYZ signs a confidentiality contract with law firm X so that company X protects its business secrets. 1 month later, company XYZ discovers that its business secrets have been sold by company X to a competitor. Thus, in this case, company X has violated business secrets.

Fourth, the act of accessing and collecting information belonging to the applicant's business secrets according to the procedures for applying for a business license or product circulation by opposing the security measures of the competent authority.

This regulation includes two cases:

• In the first case, an enterprise accesses and collects, whether illegally or with permission, the business secrets of another enterprise through the documents that the enterprise must submit when carrying out administrative procedures related to its operations. Production and business activities of the enterprise such as: business registration, trademark protection registration, technical economic argument... and then use this information to do business or prepare documents to apply for an establishment license. related to business or product circulation.
• In the second case, using measures to counter the security measures of state agencies regarding business secrets and using this confidential information to serve your business purposes and activities.

Fifth, using or disclosing a business secret even though one knows or is obligated to know that the business secret was obtained by another person in connection with one of the above acts. 

Sixth, failing to fulfill the obligation to secure testing data specified in Article 128 of the Intellectual Property Law.