Protection And Regulation Of Competition Law On Trade Secrets

In the era of knowledge and information, trade secrets are more and more important in the market competition, because it can bring competition advantage and business profits. In the vehement competition, market units always try their best to protest their trade secrets in order to obtain and keep such competition advantage. At the same time, they take pains to take full use of trade secrets in order to convert the competition advantage into real business profits. As a result, the market request law to protect trade secrets more strictly, as well as to restrict the misuse of trade secrets right urgently. The traditional private law only protect trade secrets in the way provided by civil law and cannot restrict the misuse of trade secrets. Competition law satisfies the request of the market, basing on the efficiency as its core principle and concentrating on effective competition, including fair competition and free competition. Competition law protects trade secrets in the complex way provided by civil law, administrative law and criminal law and allows the government power to intervene the exertion of private rights to prevent and prohibit from misusing trade secrets right. Unfair competition, one branch of competition law, emphasizes particularly on the protection of trade secrets for the fair competition order. Monopoly law, another branch of the competition law, emphasizes particularly on the restriction of misusing trade secrets right for the free competition order. The dissertation suggests for perfecting the protection and restriction on trade secrets by our nation's competition law, through defining trade secrets, analyzing the protection and restriction on trade secrets by law in the legal and economic method, comparing the status quo and characteristics of different nation's protection and restriction on trade secrets by competition law. The dissertion falls into three chapters: The first chapter "Market Competition and Trade Secrets Right" analyzes the protection and restriction by law on trade secrets in the legal and economic method, basing on comparing nations'law and regulations and describing the definite, extension, characteristics and types, in order to expound the internal relation between competition advantage and trade secrets and analyze the distribution, conflict and harmony of different benefit groups. The second chapter "Competition Law Theory on Protection and Regulation on Trade Secrets" expatiates and evaluates contract theory, tort theory, property right theory and competition theory of protection by traditional law on trade secrets. Then it explains competition law theory on trade secrets form three aspects of value and principle, extension and method, sanction resulting from violating law, through comparing it with civil law theory.The third chapter "Concrete System on Protection and Regulation by Competition Law on Trade Secrets" expatiates the confirmation and relief by competition law concerning on unfair competition behavior infringing trade secrets and the characteristics showed by monopoly law when it restricts and is applied to the misuse of trade secrets. Finally, the dissertation analyzes the competition regulations on trade secrets in TRIPS and then provides the suggestions on perfecting our nation's competition law in order to protect and restrict the exertion of trade secrets.