How is business secret infringement handled?

1. Definition of business secret

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).

2. How is business secret infringement handled?

Any individual or organization that commits an act of infringing on business secrets will be punished according to the provisions of Article 16 of Decree 75/2019/ND-CP as follows:

2.1. Fine: Fine from 200,000,000 VND to 300,000,000 VND for one of the following acts:

• Accessing and collecting confidential business information by opposing the security measures of the owner of that information;
• Disclosing or using confidential business information without the permission of the owner of that information.

2.2. Additional penalties:

• Confiscation of exhibits and means used to commit administrative violations of competition;
• Confiscation of profits gained from committing violations.

Note: The above fine applies to violations committed by organizations. For individuals who commit the same administrative violation of competition, the maximum fine is equal to 1/2 of the maximum fine for organizations (Clause 7, Article 4 of this Decree).

In addition, according to the provisions in Clause 3, Article 111 of the Competition Law 2018 regulates the maximum fine for violations of regulations on unfair competition at 2,000,000,000 VND.