Brief introduction of the case
The court found that the plaintiff Jiangnan Environmental Protection has a high market share and popularity in the environmental protection industry, especially in the field of ammonia desulfurization, and its desulfurization and dust removal technical scheme constitutes a technical secret. Before 20 16, the defendant, KAC Environmental Protection Company, mainly used limestone-gypsum wet desulfurization technology to engage in business activities, and did not set foot in the field of ammonia desulfurization technology. However, at the end of 20 16, it undertook a large number of ammonia desulfurization projects in a short time, and some directly used the plaintiff's technical drawings, copied them intact, or even made the same mistakes, or made adaptive adjustments according to the project scale on the basis of the plaintiff.
At present, one of the defendants, Keda Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Keke Environmental Protection Shareholder), said that it had appealed the above-mentioned first-instance judgment.
case analysis
First of all, whether technology or information constitutes a trade secret. As we all know, there is no special legal document for the protection of trade secrets in China, and the relevant provisions can be found in various departmental laws, mainly the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) against Unfair Competition (hereinafter referred to as the Law against Unfair Competition). Paragraph 4 of Article 9 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law clearly stipulates that "the commercial secrets mentioned in this Law refer to technical information, business information and other commercial information that are not known to the public and have commercial value and are kept confidential by the obligee." It can be seen that trade secrets have three characteristics: secrecy, value and practicality. To judge whether technology or information constitutes a trade secret, we should also make a comprehensive judgment according to the above three characteristics of trade secret.
In order to prevent and deal with such cases, the company should do a good job of defense and evidence fixation in advance to avoid putting itself in a passive position in litigation disputes.
First of all, the company should establish a sound confidentiality system. All confidential documents should be graded and clearly marked. R&D and manufacturing sites should be separated from open office space. All personnel who may be involved in secrets, including managers, technicians and even sales personnel who are exposed to technology, should sign confidentiality agreements and non-competition agreements.
Secondly, the company should do a good job of fixing evidence. It is necessary to properly keep the relevant information of technology research and development and form a complete history of technology evolution. It is best to indicate the name of the company and the name of the R&D personnel on the drawings to prove that the company is the owner of the relevant technology. The original product photos should be kept well, and the company publications involving product photos should be put together.
Finally, the company should make good use of patented technology. In order to prevent resigned employees or competing companies from maliciously applying for patents first, the company should do a good job in applying for patented technology. Because China's patent application is based on the principle of first application. Once a trade secret is patented first by others, it is time-consuming and laborious for the company to protect its rights, and the result may not be ideal. Therefore, when protecting technical information, the company can adopt the dual protection strategy of trade secrets and patents, and selectively apply for patents for some trade secrets to protect the company's technical information to the maximum extent.