On The Legal Nature Of Trade Secrets

As for the disputes on the legal nature of trade secrets, no matter they are regarded as property right, intellectual property or merely property interest, the core of disputes is that whether the trade secrets are "rights" or "interests". In the meantime, the concept of "property" also goes through the disputes of trade secrets. Based on the understanding of the property nature of trade secrets, some people believe that trade secrets are the "intellectual property" similar to the traditional intellectual property such as patent right, and should belong to the range of intellectual property; hence trade secrets should be protected as a kind of intellectual property. However, some hold different opinion that trade secrets are undoubtedly a kind of property, but they shall not be endowed with the attribute of "property right" just because they belong to "property"The purpose of studying the legal nature of trade secrets is to prove the legal nature of property interest for trade secrets through analyzing the legal nature of trade secrets and combining the positioning of trade secrets in current Chinese legal system. This paper is divided into four chapters and expounded by the methods like simulated induction, comparative analysis and semantic analysis. The first chapter is the concept discrimination for trade secrets and trade secret right. It introduces the concepts of trade secrets and trade secret right. Through comparative research and semantic analysis methods, the definitions of trade secrets formulated by international organization, two law systems and China are analyzed. At the same time, it combines with the concept of "trade secret right" emerging in current Chinese academic field and "trade secrets" for summary and comparison. This chapter points out the theoretical basis of "trade secret right" and leads to the problem that there are disputes in the legal nature of trade secrets. The second chapter is about the views on legal nature of trade secrets in China. This chapter briefly describes the current views on legal nature of trade secrets in China and indicates the opinion of this paper on the legal nature of trade secrets. The third chapter is about the views on legal nature of trade secrets abroad. It introduces the theories of two law systems on the legal nature of trade secrets. The fourth chapter is the non-right analysis for trade secrets. This chapter analyzes the legal nature of property interest for trade secrets from four perspectives of non-exclusive nature, property, legal protective mode and protective value goal of trade secrets.It is commonly believed that trade secrets are a kind of intellectual property and should be included in the protection range of intellectual property. However, this paper believes it is more proper to regard trade secrets as a kind of property interest in the legal nature.