1, violating the confidentiality obligation or infringing the business secrets of the obligee; And confirm that the leaked information belongs to company secrets;
2. Obtaining the business secrets of the obligee by improper means such as theft, bribery, fraud, coercion and electronic intrusion;
3. Disclosing, using or allowing others to use the business secrets of the obligee obtained by means of the preceding paragraph.
In any of the above circumstances, it shall be deemed as leaking company secrets and shall be liable according to law.
It is illegal to disclose company secrets, which will be judged according to the specific circumstances. Employees who violate the confidentiality agreement signed with the company or the confidentiality provisions of the company may constitute an illegal act of revealing company secrets to others. In practice, judging the disclosure of company secrets needs to consider the following aspects: whether there is a confidentiality agreement or confidentiality clause: if a company signs a confidentiality agreement or formulates confidentiality clauses with its employees, employees who violate these clauses will usually be considered as disclosing company secrets; Whether it will cause actual losses to the company: The disclosure of company secrets will bring actual losses to the company, such as the loss of business opportunities and the disclosure of customer information. If the employee's behavior leads to these losses, it may be considered as leaking company secrets; Subjective fault: when judging the disclosure of company secrets, the court will consider whether employees are subjectively at fault, such as whether they intentionally disclose secrets or whether negligence leads to the disclosure of secrets.
The characteristics of trade secrets are:
First, the premise of trade secrets is that they are not known to the public, while other intellectual property rights are open, and even patent rights should be made public to a considerable extent;
Second, trade secrets are a relative right. The exclusiveness of trade secrets is not absolute or exclusive. Other people who have obtained business secrets of the same content by legal means have the same status as the first person. The owner of a trade secret can neither prevent the person who developed and mastered the information before him from using or transferring the information, nor prevent the person who developed and mastered the information after him from using or transferring the information.
Third, it can make operators gain benefits, gain competitive advantages, or have potential commercial benefits.
Fourth, the term of protection of trade secrets is not legal, and it depends on the confidentiality measures of the obligee and the disclosure of this secret by others. A technical secret may last for a long time because of the effective security measures of the right holder and the application value of the technology itself, far exceeding the protection period of the patented technology.
To sum up, if employees are convicted of leaking company secrets, they may face a series of legal consequences, including civil compensation and criminal punishment. Therefore, it is suggested that employees should carefully read and abide by the relevant regulations when signing confidentiality agreements or regulations with the company to avoid unnecessary legal risks.
Legal basis:
People's Republic of China (PRC) Anti-unfair Competition Law
Article 9
The term "business secrets" as mentioned in this Law refers to technical information, business information and other business information that are not known to the public and have commercial value and are kept confidential by the obligee.
Criminal law of the people's Republic of China
Article 2 19
Whoever commits one of the following acts of infringing on business secrets, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also or only be fined; If the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined: (1) obtaining the business secrets of the obligee by theft, bribery, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion or other improper means;
(2) disclosing, using or allowing others to use the business secrets of the obligee obtained by the above means;
(3) disclosing, divulging, divulging or allowing others to use the business secrets in their possession in violation of confidentiality obligations or the requirements of the obligee to keep business secrets. Anyone who knowingly obtains, discloses, divulges or allows others to use the trade secret shall be punished as infringing the trade secret.