Trade secret rig h ts are protected w hen the real exclusive rig h ts of th e subjects to inform atio n still exist an d the inform ation meets completely the protection requừem ents pr
Trang 1VNU JOURNAL OF SCIENC E, ECONOMICS-LAW, N01E, 2004
SOME I S S U E S CO NCERNING THE PROTECTION OF TRADE
SE C R E T A N D THE COM PLETION OF TRADE SECRET
P R O T E C T IO N LEGISLATION IN VIETNAM
T rad e secret a s th e object of
intellectual p ro p e rty r ig h t s is one of the
categories w hich h a s still b een not
extensively studied In addition, the
application of th e s tip u la tio n s re la te d to
tra d e secret is too little if we don’t w a n t to
say t h a t it h a s n o t b e e n in existence in
reality The fo rm atio n of th e tra d e secret
protection re g u la tio n s in V ie tn a m ’s
incomplete On th e o th e r h a n d , son e
scholars have sh o w n t h a t a t p re s e n t the
shortcom ings of th e tr a d e secret protection
system u sually c a u s e m ore in hibition to
foreign in v e stm e n t t h a n th e lim itatio n s in
the protection of o th e r in tellectual
prop erty objects {4, p 88} Therefore, th e
completion of tr a d e sec re t protection
in te g ra tio n process of V ie tn am into the
region a n d th e w orld b u t also c o ntribu tes
to speeding up th e economic growth
th ro u g h foreign i n v e s t m e n t attra ctio n
In th is article, th e a u th o r will p re s e n t
th e aspects of t r a d e s e c re t notion an d the
f e a tu re s of tr a d e s e c re t protection as the
object of in d u s tr ia l p ro p e rty rights,
c o m p are the tr a d e sec re t protection
n Dr., Faculty of Law, V ie tn a m N ational University,
Hanoi.
N g u y e n Thi Q ue A nh(,)
m echanism of V ie tn am w ith those of other developed n a tio n s which have a lot of experience in th is field as well as compare
th e re q u ire m e n ts for tra d e secret protection to th e in te rn a tio n a l tre a tie s
t h a t V ie tn am h a s p a rtic ip a te d or will
p a rtic ip a te in T hen, th e a u th o r advances some proposals, a im in g a t com pleting the tra d e secret protection legislation in Vietnam
1 An O v erv iew o f th e Trade S ec r e t
P r o te c tio n L e g isla tio n S y stem in
th e W orld
T rade secret is one of the tra d itio n a l objects of inte lle ctu al p ro p e rty rights In
th e old days before th e notion of intellectual p roperty w as first used, skilled
w orkers h a d conserved th e ir professional secret Vheir professional secret d id n’t exist in docum ents, b u t it sim ply was the knowledge, th e seơret of a p a rtic u la r individual
U ntil th e In d u s tr ia l Revolution in Europe, th e n a tu r e of know-hows and tra d e secrets h a d g ra d u a lly changcd The complexity of th e production process and
th e wide-open re la tio n s h ip s re q u ire d to
h av e a record an d p a p e r system a n d a t the
possibilities to c h an ge th e ir employers
3 5
Trang 2From t h a t time, th e two tre n d s which
th re a te n e d th e e n tire ty of know -how s a n d
tra d e secrets em erged: F irst, th e
un faithfu l a ttitu d e of some w o rk ers to
th e ir ex-employers occurred; second, the
docum ents and p a p e rs re la tin g to th ese
secrets w ere stolen To settle a p a r t of this
situation, employers in tro d u ce d in the
em ploym ent co n tra cts th e provisions
which re q u ire d em ployees to have a
liability to keep secret th e know -how s and
the tra d e secrets th e y a p p ro a ch e d d u rin g
work process I t w a s considered as an
effective m ethod of re s istin g em ployees’
unfaithful a ttitu d e s as well as th e stea lin g
of th e secret in form atio n m e n tion ed above
T ie s ta te passed th e law sy stem to re s ist
this situation by s tre n g th e n in g the
sanction m e a s u re s to deal w ith th e people
who violate th e liability above
So far, in m ost of co u n trie s in th e
w ) r l d , th e protection of tr a d e secret h a s
bren given an a p p ro p ria te position in th e
law system s which p rotect th e goals of
people’s intellectual work However, in the
developing co u n trie s w ith a little
experience in th e protection for intellectual
property in g eneral a n d tr a d e secret in
particular, th e s e ttle m e n t of th is m a tte r is
qiite different
In some countries, tr a d e secret
protection is p rim a rily im p le m e n te d on th e
bisis of th e c o n tra c t signed by em ployers
aid employees or by tr a d in g p a rtn e rs The
liibility of revealing sec re t in form atio n is
e:am ined in th e scope of th e civil
relationships b e tw ee n th e p a rtie s to th e
contract In addition, th e civil service
employees (eg: customs officers, policemen )
a re u n d e r an obligation not to reveal the secrets th e y app ro ach w hen th e y do th e ir work th ro u g h th e special c o n tracts This model exists in G r e a t B rita in a n d in some
of its colonies such as A u s tra lia a n d India
In A u stra lia, for exam ple t h e r e is no
p a rtic u la r tra d e secret protection law, but
th e legislation of A u stra lia is applied to exam in e th e civil a n d c rim in al liabilities to those who m a k e m is ta k e s in revealin g secret inform atio n illegally (3, p 59- 64)
In some o th e r countries, besides th e mode of tr a d e sec re t protection th ro u g h
th e a d ju s tm e n t of th e employer-employee
a n d tra d in g p a r tn e r rela tio n sh ip s, th e re
a re re g u la tio n s re la te d to th e protection for th is object, which a re s c a tte re d in different legal do cum ents such as the law s
a g a in s t u n fa ir competition, of inform ation
a n d in form ation protection a n d the operation s of ju d g m e n t office, tax office
a n d in s u ra n c e office, This fact exists in some cou ntries such as G erm a n y , A ustria, Italy a n d Russia
In some countries, th e protection for tra d e secret is im p le m e n te d on th e basis of
p a rtic u la r law d ocum en ts of th is object, combined w ith a few s tip u la tio n s in o th e r
introd uced th e g e n eral law of tr a d e secrets (The U niform T ra d e S e crets Act) The tra d e secret protection is specifically defined by th e law system s of th e states, basically su ita b le to this law A m erica’s law of trade secret protection is appreciated
a n d considered as one the most perfect law system s in th is field (5, p 8)
VNU, Journal o f Science, Econom ics-Law , N„IE, 2004
Trang 3Some issues c o n c e r n in g the protection of. 37
m echanism of t r a d e secret protection is
g u a ra n te e d by th e g en eral s tip u la tio n s of
labour law, civil law a n d crim inal law The
laws of som e c o u n trie s such as France,
Poland, S w itz e rla n d provide tr a d e secret
protection in th e following d irections:(l) In
the mode of la b o u r relationships, employees
inform ation a n d a re no t allowed to
compete w ith t h e ir ex-employers w hen
they te rm in a l t h e ir w ork contract; (2) the
civil liability of th e people who pro p a g a te
the secret in fo rm atio n which is assigned
by th e o th e rs or called “t r u s t a b u s e ”; (3)
the c rim in al liability th e s ta te civil
s erv an ts a n d the officials of the offices which
propagation
Finally, a n o th e r mode of tra d e secret
protection is to protect m ainly th e legal
docum ents of each production or b usiness
unit, w hich is u su ally called “la w o f
em ployees’ b eh a vio u r ru le s' T his mode is
applied in J a p a n (1)
It is possible to find in re a lity t h a t the
tra d e secret protection in each c ou ntry in
the world is different in th e approach to
settlin g prob lem s on th e one h a n d a n d h a s
certain common tr e n d s on th e other The
common tr e n d s a r e as follows: (1) T here is
no p a rtic u la r t r a d e sec re t protection law
(America can be considered an exception
Because of th e hig h in d e p endence of the
s ta te s in legislation, it is n e cessary to have
a common tra d e secret law to e n su re the
unity of a d ju s tin g th e re la tio n s h ip s of th is
object); (2) e n h a n c in g th e responsibility of
em ployees to protection for th e inform ation
know n as tr a d e secret; (3) s tr e n g t h e n i n g liability, including c rim inal liability a n d civil liability to th e s ta te civil s e r v a n t s
w orking in th e fields re la te d to t r a d e secrets
In addition, th e re la tio n s h ip s concerning tr a d e secret protection are a ls o
ad ju sted to conform w ith th e mode of
re la tin g in te rn a tio n a l conventions In
1900, in th e conference of considering a n d modifying C onvention P a ris of in d u s tr ia l
p rop erty rig h ts in B russels, the r ig h t s
a g a in s t u n fa ir com petition w e re
su p p le m e n te d in the mode of th e object of
in d u s tria l property, which w ere p rotected
in accordance w ith th is convention A rticle lObis provides: the m e m b e r cou ntries h a v e responsibility to e n s u re for the o th e r
m e m b e rs’ citizens th e effective liability
a g a in s t u n fa ir com petition actions, each of
u n derstoo d to be any actions a g a in s t the
h o n e st custo m s in in d u s tr y a n d business
T he seizing of secret inform ation on technology or tr a d e secret is obviously considered to be “a g a in s t the honest custom s in in d u s try a n d b u sin ess”
m entioned above Thus, it is possible to consider th is as th e first in te rn a tio n a l article w hich provides indirectly the protection for th e info rm ation considered
as tra d e secret
U n til th e end of th e tw e n tie th century
th e protection for th e object mentioned above w as recorded in te rm s of the
re g u la tio n s of th e protection for secret inform ation as th e object of intellectual
p ro p e rty rig h ts in th e m u ltila te ra l trade
a g re e m e n ts on th e tra d e aspects of
VNU Jo u rn a l o f Science Econom ics-Luw , N J E , 2004
Trang 4intellectual p ro p e rty rig h ts (TRIPS)
Article No 39.1 of th is a g re e m e n t provides:
“to e n su re th e effective protection a g ain st
un fair competition actio ns provided in
article No lObis of th e P a ris Convention
(1967), the m em b er co u n trie s m u s t protect
the secret in form ation a n d docum ents
han d ed to the g o v e rn m e n t or the
governm ental offices ” Moreover, the
m entioned article provides some specific
protection R em arkably, th e te rm “secret
inform ation” is used in th is article to in sist
on the fact th a t th e protection for th is
object m u st be la rg e r t h a n th e conceptions
which h ave existed for over h a lf a century;
for example, tra d e secret, know-how, the
list of tra d in g p a rtn e rs , T R IP S is th e most
com prehensive m u ltila te ra l a g re e m e n t on
tra d e secret protection
T rade secret is one of th e contents
related to the in tellectu al prop erty rig h ts
m entioned in the V ie tn am - A m erica T rad e
Agreem ent Basically, th e stip u la tio n s
related to th e P a ris C onvention a n d TRIPS
A greem ent is considered to be th e basis of
th e two co u n trie s’ responsibilities to
protect this object
2 F ea tu res o f T rad e S e c r e t and
C riteria o f T rade S e c r e t P r o te c tio n
2 1 F e a tu r e s o f T r a d e S e c r e t a s th e
O bject o f I n d u s tr i a l P r o p e r ty R ig h ts
Being one of th e objects of in d u stria l
property rights, tr a d e secret h a s sufficient
fe atu res of in tellectual property: the
invisibility of the objects a n d th e re s u lt of
people’s in tellectual work In addition,
tra d e secret h a s a wide r a n g e of specific features The basis of tr a d e secret protection is th e re a l monopoly of certain subject to a set of c e r ta in know ledge (4, p 5) The legal tool in th e h a n d of tra d e secret ow ners c an allow th e m to have certain ability to re s is t th e violations of the people a ro u n d , b u t th e se tools a re not as effective as those of th e o w n e rs of other intellectual pro p e rty righ ts Therefore, the existence of ju rid ical capacity of tra d e secret o w ners d e p en d s on th em selves, the com preh en siveness a n d effectiveness of the m e a s u re s w hich th e o w n ers apply aim ing a t p ro tectin g t h e ir exclusive righ ts
of th e inform ation
The n e x t fe a tu re is th e h igh generality
of tr a d e secret If inven tion , industrial design, tr a d e m a r k a n d o th e r objects of intellectual p ro p e rty rig h ts can be defined
as the prod ucts of c re ativ e work, tra d e secret can be defined as variou s m aterials
inform ation, m a n a g e m e n t, finance and different o p e ra tio n a spects of trade Trade secret can be th e solutions which can be protected as invention, tra d e m a rk ,
in d u stria l design, b u t for one reason the
ow ner d oesn’t w a n t to ann ou nce and
re g ister it in accordance w ith the legal form alities of p a te n t Moreover, th e ability
of th e b u s in e s s m e n who consider the inform ation t h a t th e y h a v e a s tra d e secret
is not boundless Any s ta te s have the rights to sup erv ise th e operations of busin essm en , fully a n d tim ely obey the
p a y m en t duty, asse ss th e influences of business o p e ra tio n s on th e surroundings,
VNU, Jo urnal o f Science, Econom ics-Law , N J E 2004
Trang 5Some issues c o n c e rn in g the protection of. 39
etc T h us, law provides th a t some kinds of
in form atio n c a n ’t be considered as tra d e
secret: bu sin ess re g istration perm its,
d o c u m en ts re la te d to finance and
a ccounting o p e ratio ns in accordance w ith
legal re g ulatio ns, inform ation of q u a n tity
a n d composition, salary, the working
conditions of employees, docum ents of
c o nsu m ptio n of noxious products, etc
A n o th e r fe a tu re of tra d e secret is to
help d istin g u ish it from o th e r forms of
in te lle ctu al property known as the
lim itlessness o f protection time. Trade
secret rig h ts are protected w hen the real
exclusive rig h ts of th e subjects to
inform atio n still exist an d the inform ation
meets completely the protection requừem ents
provided by th e law This m akes the choice
of th e form s to protect the object known as
tr a d e secret become more a ttra c tiv e to
bu s in e s s m e n , especially in case th e
principle of lim ited time protection doesn’t
satisfy th e ir b usin ess profits
Finally, tra d e secret known as th e
object of intellectual property rights
doesn ’t re q u ire th e legal acknow ledgm ent
of p ro tected possibility, the re g istra tio n
th ro u g h a p p ro p ria te auth orities, and the
im p le m e n ta tio n of form alities or fee
p a y m en t T h is is also significant to the
choice of tra d e secret protection forms of
th e object which is th e goal of people’s
c re ativ e works
2.2 C r ite r ia o f T ra d e S e c re t
P r o te c tio n
Like o th e r forms of intellectual
p ro p e rty rig hts, th e law of tra d e secret
protection provides a ra n g e of criteria
which inform ation needs to be protected as tra d e secret
m in im um c riteria of tra d e secret protection such as the protection for the inform ation u n d e r th e legal control of individuals an d legal people if the information:
- h a s secrecy w ith th e m eaning t h a t it
is widely know n or it is easy of approach for th e people who often contact the information;
- h a s tr a d e v a lues because it is secret;
- w as protected by the people with legal rig h ts to im p le m e n t th e reasonable
m e a s u re s in accordance with the real situation (Item 2, Provision 31, TRIPS
A greem ent)
A nalyzing the senses above indicates
t h a t to be protected as trade secret, inform ation m u s t m eet the following protection criteria:
F irst, it m u s t h ave secrecy or in other word, it c a n ’t be free to approach the inform ation legally If any of the in terested
th ird people can get access to the
in form ation legally, t h a t inform ation c a n ’t
be protected as tra d e secret For example, stu d y in g available inform ation, analyzing the models of produ cts circulated in the
m a rk e t, catching up w ith th e information
th ro u g h different m eans, etc
Second, it m u s t have tra d e values In
inform ation values im p lem en ted by its holders a t p re s e n t or in the fu tu re will
c re ate more a d v a n ta g e s for them th a n the
V N U , Jo u rn a l o f Science Econom ics-Law, N„JE, 2004
Trang 6vvho don’t hold th is inform ation On
tie bi«is of th is criterion, some of th e
^ (VVing in fo rm atio n will not be protected
* tr i secret:
nform ation t h a t is n o t p aid a tte n tio n
yy he people around;
'[^form ation t h a t th e people aro u n d
’t ice wO gain th e ir t r a d e purposes; etc
èư *
Ịvoreover, th e in form atio n t h a t h a s
rliitií ởr im plicit tr a d e v a lues c a n ’t be
;o th e others T h e o th e r people here
Ve u n d e rs to o d a s th e ones for whom
tr< 1
^ ^formation b rin g s a b o u t c e rta in tra d e
f-g For exam ple, m a n u fa c tu r e r s
0ni3t3 with th e m a n u fa c tu r e r s who have
(J secret, th e c o n su m e rs of th e ir
)dic*s and services
rhfd, it m u s t be p ro tected by the
n r c with nece ssa ry m easu res The
)CỊ of th e se protection m e a s u re s is
^ veSịied a n d plentiful T h ey can be
t »hiical o rg anizatio nal, legal m e asu re s
n l g at p re v e n tin g th e o th e r s ’ illegal
Tviich from th e in fo rm atio n which
aP
erf piotecting It d o e sn ’t re q u ire th e
/ r p of the in fo rm atio n to apply th e
a ] m e asu re s to pro tect it The
r t- i r c e is t h a t th e specific behav io urs
s-e*
iip
fte owners m u s t e xp ress a desire to
n *r'e the secrecy of th e inform ation
hih h3y are holding T he n ecessary a n d
df£i»n- condition is t h a t th e ow ners hav e
e-ju'e* t 0 r e s t r i c t t h e a c c e s s t o
fYiraton; w h e n th e r e is (eg: employees),
ieovn«rs m u s t m a k e th e m u n d e r s ta n d
r - j s impossible to d is se m in a te th e
^■rr^ton w ith o u t th e o w n e rs ’ approval
I t is n ecessary to e m p h a siz e t h a t th e protection conditions m e ntio ned above a re
of g re a t significance H owever, th e la s t
c riterion is of decisive significance If th e
ow ners of tr a d e sec re t don’t pay a tte n tio n
to th e obligation to conserve specific
p riv a te inform atio n such a s em ployees or tra d in g p a rtn e rs , th e possibility to pro tect
th e profits of tra d e secret is very low
3 S om e P r o p o sa ls for C o m p letin g th e
L e g isla tio n an d R a isin g th e
E ffic ie n c y o f th e P r o te c tio n for
T rade S e c r e t in V ietn a m
The general r e q u ir e m e n t for
in tellectual property in V ie tn am w hen
e n te rin g th e 2 1st c e n tu r y is to set u p a
prop erty (the protection for every object
a n d th e complete a n d com prehensiv e protection in te rm s of content, scope an d duration ) a n d th e efficiency in accordance
w ith in te rn a tio n a l s ta n d a r d s (the legal
no rm s m u s t be re a so n a b le a n d realizable,
th e violation of in te lle ctu al p ro p e rty rig h ts
m u s t be legally tre a te d ), especially th e
e xp ansion of th e scope of th e protected objects, in cluding tr a d e secret not only
m eets th e re q u ire m e n ts for th e
technology a n d b u s in e s s knowledge b u t also is a n im p o r ta n t step in th e developm ent s tra te g ie s of intellectual pro perty in V ietnam However, w ith th e complexity of th e protection for th e
p a rtic u la r object which is tr a d e secret a n d
to g e th e r w ith th e application o f stip u la tio n s on th is w hich is still too little,
V N U Journal o f Science, Economics-Law', N J E 2004
Trang 7Some issues co n c ern in g the protection of.
the tra d e secret protection law in V ietnam
can be said to be in the form ation and
development In general the e sta b lis h m e n t
of th e law system of in tellectu al p roperty
protection in g eneral m u st be based on the
experience of th e developed countries On
the o th e r h a n d , to m eet th e re q u ire m e n ts
for the in te g ra tio n into th e region a n d the
e n v iro n m e n t which is ap p ro p ria te , b u t not
too far a p a r t from th e world F ir s t of all, to
O rganization (WTO), e s ta b lis h m e n t of a
law system of in tellectual p roperty
protection in accordance w ith th e criteria
of m inim um protection m en tion ed in
TRIPS Agreement is undeniably a neccessity
completing the legislation of tra d e secret
protection, which we m en tion ed here, are
m ainly based on TR IPS stip u la tio n s and
developed countries We will m entio n some
problems as follows:
To determ ine the scope o f protected
objects
Provision No 6, Decree No 54/ CP on
th e in d u s tria l p roperty protection for tra d e
secret, geographical indications, tra d e
n a m e s ad dressed th e notion of tr a d e secret
kno w n as the invested a ch ie v e m en t in
te rm s of inform ation, w ith th e following
conditions:
- I t is not common knowledge
- It is applicable to b u s in e s s a n d w hen
applied, it will create more a d v a n ta g e s for
th e o w ner th a n th e people who don’t hold
or use it
- It is protected by the ow ner vs necessary m e a s u re s so th a t k inform ation will not be le ak e d 0 it easily approached
On th e whole, th e protection
m entioned above a re s u ita b le 0 h criteria of TR IP S A greem ent, whtCl analyzed above A n o th er problem o
® t<
define the violation to trade st(r
Analyzing th e reg ulatio ns of T^]pt
A greem en t ind icates t h a t th e r e ar-> ,0
1L01 belonging to o th e r people’s secret trQj (
-not considered as th e violation ni 1
m rig h ts of th e in fo rm ation owner r»r ( j secret protection is not applied tc I inform ation w hich is received as thfr J
of th e following processes:
- in d e p e n d e n t invention
- re v erse a n alysis
- h o n e st in fo rm ation reception According to Item 2, Provisioi \L Q
o Decree No 54/ CP, one of th> a '-iCig considered as in d u s tria l property v 0]tt
to tr a d e secret is “th e revelation ỉn< Ịse I the inform ation belonging to trade s»c t
w itho ut th e perm ission from the 0vi>r ị
t h a t tra d e secret.” The conterx of ị
norm can lead to th e understíniiíT contradiction w ith th e reguliti)n f
TR IPS A g re em en t on th e d e te r m n tt),n f violation of tr a d e secret According t(t^
regulation, th e a n n o u n c e m e n t aic \xe £
th e inform ation w hich is th e reail ( iLe
in d e p e n d e n t invention and -eei
an aly sis processes or honestly 8:qịỉ(j inform ation can be considerei 1It 10C i _
V Ni f Journal o f Science Econom ic*-Law, N„l E, 2004
Trang 8viclatiion to th e rig h ts of tr a d e secret
o v n e r T h erefore, in o u r opinion, it is
n e c e s s a r y to s u p p le m e n t t h e regulatio ns
on t h e acts considered as in d u s tria l
p n p e r t y violation of tr a d e secret,
i n c l u d i n g th e acq uistion of th e inform ation
made m e n tio n e d above which is considered
tobe legal
T h e T rad e Secret Protection fo r the
O perations o f the S ta te Office
C o m p e te n t s ta t e offices h a v e th e rig h ts
to re q u ire e n te r p ris e s to provide the
in o rm a tio n ab o u t th e i r o peration
characteristics as well as th e ir goods an d
services It is special t h a t some products
cbsely re la te d to th e safety of consum ers
sich as m edicines, chem ical su b sta n c e
used for a g ric u ltu re , th e p ro du cts u sed for
anation, etc m u s t be qu a lita tiv e ly tested
b ’ the c o m p eten t s ta t e office At t h a t time
tie e n te rp ris e s w hich have secret
^form ation a lw ay s n eed to be protected so
tlat that information will not be fallen
iito the h a n d of th e ir com petitors To solve
tlis contradiction, Ite m 3, Provision No.39,
TUPS A g re e m e n t provides t h a t the
eiperiments or d a ta w hich a re not
rivealed w h en s u b m itte d as a condition to
ritify t h a t th e m a rk e tin g of
piarmaceutical pro d u c ts or a g ric u ltu ra l
ciemical pro d u c ts used w ith new chemical
ilgredients m u s t be pro te c ted from the
unhealthy u se in b u s in e s s a n d revelatio n
ii so m e certain cases T h e se stip u la tio n s
ii 7KIPS A g re e m e n t clearly h a v e a limited
afferent in fo rm atio n re la te d to the
Ịroducts o u tsid e th e p h a rm a c e u tic a l
products a n d a g ric u ltu ra l chemical products m e n tio n e d above V ie tn a m ’s legislation solves th is issu e in a la rg e r scope: All th e acts of ap p ro a ch in g and acq uiring th e in fo rm a tio n belonging to oth e r people’s tr a d e sec re t w h en they
su b m it in accordance w ith th e procedure to apply for b u s in e s s a n d circulation perm ission in o rd e r to be a g a in s t the protection m e a s u re s of a d m in is tra tio n offices, or th e u se of t h a t info rm ation for
b u siness pu rp ose a n d for th e pu rp ose of applying to b u s in e s s or circulation perm ission a re all con sidered as the
in d u s tria l p ro p e rty violation to tra d e secret (Item 4, Provision 18, Decree No 54/ CP) It is possible to consider th is as an
ad v a n ta g e of th e tr a d e secret protection system of V ietnam H ow ever, raising the efficiency of th e tr a d e secret protection system in re la tio n to th e s ta t e offices’ exam in atio n a n d su p erv isio n of products does not stop th e re In o u r point of view,
th e issue above will be com prehensively solved in th e following directions:
First, it is n e c e s sa ry to exam ine the liability of th e staffs of th e s ta t e offices in
a u th o rity to th e acts of revealin g the inform ation know n a s tr a d e secret which they ap p ro a ch w h e n th e y do th e ir work Item 2, Provision 2, Decree No 12/ CP
d a ted M arch 6th, 1999 “on th e fine in th e field of in d u s tria l p ro p e rty ” provides: Every o rg a n iz atio n a n d every individual who in te n tio n a ly u n in te n tio n a ly acts which violates th e s tip u la tio n s of the
S t a t e ’s protection a n d m a n a g e m e n t of
in d u s tria l p roperty, a re u n d e r th e level of being held crim in al liability is fined in accordance w ith th e fine ordinance and the
VNU, Journal o f Science, Economics-Law, N0IE, 2004
Trang 9Some issues co n c e rn in g the protection of
43
Decree m en tio n e d above However, u n til
now th e r e h a v e n ’t been any specific
stip u la tio n s re la te d to th e d e term in a tio n of
the liability of th e staffs in the s ta te offices
which have competence to g ran t permissions
perm issions of products on th e revelation
of the info rm atio n know n as th e tra d e
secret of th e people who apply for th e sorts
of perm ission s above
Second, it is necessary to lim it and
stip u la te specifically the scope of
inform ation th a t e n te rp ris e s need to
subm it to th e s ta te offices a n d the
a u th o ritie s w hen th e y apply for business
perm issions or the circulation perm issions
of products If th e offices m entioned above
advance th e re q u ire m e n ts ou t of the
allowed scope, th e people who apply for
perm issions can refuse to provide the
inform ation re la te d to th e ir tra d e secret
C o m b in in g the law o f in d u stria l
property protection for trade secret w ith
other legal form s.
developing cou ntries of the world, th e law
combination of legal stip u la tio n s of some different fields This o rig in ate s from the
fe atures of tr a d e secret w hich is the monopoly of th e ow ner a b o u t certain information In t h a t content, th e form as well as th e application scope of th a t inform ation is diversified and plentiful Thus, to protect effectively t h e object known as tra d e secret, it re q u ire s a combination of m a n y d ifferen t law branches Even it is no t n e cessary to pro m u lgate a specific legal d ocu m en t on
this object The importance IS the
combination of law bran ches Therefoie for V ietnam , to g e th e r w ith th e completion
of th e tra d e secret protection stipulations
in Decree No 54/CP a n d law documents related to in d u s tria l p ro p e rty protection (technology tra n s fe r, violation treatm ent
in in d u s tria l property, etc.), th e protection for tra d e secret m u s t be mentioned ar.d dealt w ith in o th e r fields such as law )f
competition, custom s office operation tix
b u re a u a n d others
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d o a n h và việc thực h iệ n P h á p lu ậ t bảo hộ bí m ậ t k in h do anh của V iệt N am Dựa tr ê n n h ữ n g
p h â n tích k hoa học, tác giả sơ lược hệ th ô n g P h á p lu ậ t bảo hộ bí m ậ t k in h d oanh tr ê n t h ế giới, n êu lên n h ữ n g đặc điểm của bí m ậ t k in h d oan h và n h ữ n g tiê u c h u ẩ n bảo hộ bí m ậ t
k in h d oan h với tư cách là đối tượng của q uy ền sở h ữ u tr í tu ệ và đồng thời nêu r a giải p h áp cho việc thực hiện P h á p lu ậ t và n â n g cao h iệ u q u ả cua bảo hộ bí m ậ t k in h d o a n h ở Việt Nam
V NU, Jou rn a l o f Science, Econom ics-Law , N J E , 2004