Trade secret protection: Asia at a crossroads

• Main Authors: LIU, Kung-Chung, HILTY, Reto M.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: Trade secrets; commercial law; Asia; Asian Studies; Intellectual Property Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3806; https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99517041802601&context=L&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Trade%20secret%20protection:%20Asia%20at%20a%20crossroads&offset=0
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Trade secret protection law has been an important complement to patent law and gained increasing importance over the last two decades, not the least in Asia, due to the staggering commercial values of trade secrets, fierce cross-border commercial competition and “large scale global labour mobility. Thus far, no systematic study of trade secret protection law of major Asian jurisdictions has been made, except a recent publication that deals with China, Japan and Korea and one volume that deals with Korea and China. More importantly, major Asian countries are now at a crossroads as one after another (Japan, Korea, Taiwan and even the PRC) they are following the US approach in criminalizing trade secret infringement. This trend, if unchecked, might have ramifications over major Asian jurisdictions that are of common law tradition.This present book will provide detailed analysis of the statutory and case law in the PRC, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Taiwan (civil law tradition), Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, and Singapore (common law tradition). In addition, EU and German trade secret protection law will be included to serve a benchmark and alternative to the US model.The book strives to give a clear overview of national laws and practices of the six suggested topics under examination in respective jurisdictions. Country reports allow some flexibility as each jurisdiction may differ from one another. Especially, the report on the EU and German law which could include the following issues that are not yet much discussed in Asia: 1. the possibility for third-parties to be made responsible for a violation (see for instance Art. 4 nr. 4 European Trade Secret Directive), 2. the conditions under which an injunction might be ordered in case of violation (see for instance Art. 12 European Trade Secret Directive), and the relation with fundamental rights (for instance, with the freedom of expression of journalist or employee).