WHAT IS BUSINESS SECRET? THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT BUSINESS SECRETS

Business secret is one of the objects of industrial property rights and is protected if it meets all conditions of intellectual property law. So what is business secret? Conditions for protection of business secrets in accordance with current law? Let's find out with OTIS LAWYERS in the article below!

What is business secret?

According to the provisions of Clause 23, Article 4 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005, amended and supplemented in 2009, “Business secret is information obtained from financial and intellectual investment activities, which has not been disclosed yet. disclosed and available for business use.”

Conditions for protection of business secrets

Article 84 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005, amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019 stipulates that business secret is protected if it meets the following conditions:

• It is neither common knowledge nor easily obtainable.
• When used in business activities, the business secret will create for its holder advantages over those who do not hold or use it.
• The owner of the business secret maintains its secrecy by necessary means so that the secret will not be disclosed nor be easily accessible.

Unprotected Objects 

According to Article 85 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005, amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019 stipulates that the following objects are not protected in the name of business owners with respect to the following confidential information:

- Personal identification secrets.

- State management secrets.

- National defence and security secrets.

- Other confidential information unrelated to business. 

Owner rights of business secrets

Owner of business secrets is an organization or individual that legally obtains business secrets and keeps confidential. Business secrets that the employee obtains while performing assigned work is owned by the assignor, unless otherwise agreed by the parties.

Right to use business secrets

The owner of a business secret has the right to use the acts specified in Clause 4, Article 124 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005, as amended and supplemented in 2009, including:

- Applying the business secret to the manufacture of products, provision of services or trade in goods;

- Selling, advertising for sale, stocking for sale or importing products manufactured with the application of the business secret.

Right to prohibit the use of business secrets

Business secret owners have the right to prevent others from using business secrets

Owners of BUSINESS SECRETS and organizations and individuals that are granted the right to use BUSINESS SECRETS have the right to prohibit others from using BUSINESS SECRETS if such use does not fall into the following cases:

• Disclosure and use of business information obtained without knowing and having no obligation to know that such business information was obtained illegally by others.
• Disclosure of confidential data to protect the public according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 128 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005, amendments and supplements 2009, 2019
• Using confidential data specified in Article 128 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005, amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019 for non-commercial purposes.
• Disclosure and use of business secrets independently
• Disclosure and use of business secrets generated by analyzing and evaluating legally distributed products and the analyst or evaluator has no other agreement with the owner of the business secret or the seller.

Acts of infringing upon rights to business secrets

The following acts are considered to infringe upon rights to business secrets:

• Accessing and collecting information belonging to business secrets by resisting the security measures of the person who legally controls the business secret;
• Disclosure and use of information belonging to the BUSINESS SECRETS without the permission of the business secrets owner;
• Violating confidentiality contracts or defrauding, inducing, bribing, coercing, seducing, taking advantage of the trust of persons with confidentiality obligations to access, collect or disclose business secrets;
• Accessing and collecting information belonging to the applicant's business secrets in accordance with the procedures for applying for a business license or product circulation by resisting the security measures of the competent authority;
• Using or disclosing business secrets although knowing or being obliged to know that BUSINESS SECRETS obtained by another person in connection with one of the aforementioned acts;
• Failure to perform confidentiality obligations specified in Article 128 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005, amendments and supplements 2009, 2019

Above is our consultation on business secrets. We hope that this is a useful reference for readers who want to learn the provisions of the law in the field of intellectual property.

Intellectual property consulting service of OTIS LAWYERS

The protection of business secrets is extremely important

OTIS LAWYERS is always proud to be a professional unit in the field of intellectual property consulting. With a team of high expertise, extensive experience lawyers, along with the dedication to clients, we believe in providing our clients with the best, most professional service, reasonable cost and time, fast completion of the process. We commit that all client information is absolutely confidential and client interests always come first.

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