Workers In The Trade Secret Protection Is Not Studied As An Obligation

The main form of the increasingly fierce competition among enterprises is the employees. The employees may change their jobs very frequently in order to pursuit the better development in the sake of their interest, which may lead to the loss of trade secrets and a further huge economic losses of original employer. In order to protect trade secrets and the employers' interests, the employers and employees usually come up with some restricted rules both in the contract and agreement to achieve this goal. It is called the Obligation of Omission, which is presented as confidentiality obligations and non-competition clause in practice. The confidentiality obligation, which is deemed as the collateral duty in many countries according to the theory of the contract collateral obligations, is much more as the security measures to make sure the implementation of the collateral duty between the parties, while the non-compete obligation originates from the legal rules or the parties' agreement. Here is mainly talking about the post-employment non competition. The execution of limiting non-compete obligation to employee should be limited properly because it limits the rights of the employee.With economic development and the intensification of global competition, there is a trend to expand the scope when applied to the employees' obligation of omission in many countries. It becomes more popular as an effective means to protect and balance the rights and interests of each party as well as to avoid the disorderly competition. Meanwhile, it cannot be simply evaluated by the contract's principle of freedom because the parties are not equal and the no commitment obligation is different from the common ones. It reflects the conflict of the employers' trade secrets and commercial interests and the employees' freedom of job choice, furthermore, the social and public interests. There should be a further study on how to balance the interests of two sides.The essay is analyzing the subject, content, form, validity, breach of contract and other aspects of the employees' obligation of omission, combined with the difference and connection of relevant provisions, introducing the cases, legislations and practical experiences of the developed countries, making an assessment and reflection of our current legislation and coming to some suggestions to establish a more mature framework to regulate the understanding and application of the employees' non-commitment obligation.