Determining Damages in Trade Secret Cases: China’s Landmark Case vs. U.S. Experiences

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Category: SinoInsights™

Image: Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan, Installment, Car, Bank, Percentage (Publicomainpictures.net)

Judicial protection of intellectual property (“IP”) rights in China has been perceived to be limited because, among other problems, the amounts of damages awarded by Chinese courts in IP infringement cases have historically been small. However, this state of affairs may be changing, as China’s Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) rendered a landmark judgment in a case involving large-scale infringement of trade secrets, allowing the victims to receive an amount equivalent to almost USD 90 million as compensation. As analyzed by Nathan Harpainter and David Zhao, Co-Managing Editors of SINOTALKS®, the innovative approach taken by the SPC to calculate the damages in the landmark case is essentially based on the concept of “unjust enrichment”. The steps followed by the SPC to do the calculation are helpful but inadequate. To help China develop its jurisprudence in this important area, the two co-authors discuss related U.S. experiences.Read more

Trade Secrets and Criminal Punishments

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Images: Mohamed Hassan, Handcuffed to a Dollar;
Linnaea Mallette, Spring Flowers Lightbulb Art (Publicdomainpictures.net)

A well-known Chinese business leader recently stated openly that her company does not hire any Chinese graduates or professionals returning from overseas to avoid potential infiltration by spies working for foreign entities. This remark has been widely criticized. While the business leader’s recruitment approach is quite extreme, her underlying concerns about potential loss of trade secrets are noteworthy. A new set of rules issued by Chinese authorities helps address these concerns by elucidating how individuals stealing trade secrets for foreign entities can be subject to severe criminal punishments.Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: 13_Phunkod (Shutterstock.com)

Only a few days after the launch of SINOTALKS.COM, Dr. Mei Gechlik began publishing a biweekly newsletter titled SINOTALKS.COM In Brief. The goal for this newsletter is to demystify Chinese law and policy so that readers will be able to craft evidence-based strategies for their China-related issues.Read more