China News Service, February 8th. Song Jianli, deputy director of the Intellectual Property Inspection Office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said on the 8th that he would strengthen the protection of trade secrets in key technical fields.
Focus on cracking down on commercial secret infringement crimes involving high-tech, key core technologies, and the survival and development of enterprises, and supervise a number of major, difficult and complicated criminal cases of commercial secret infringement.
The Supreme People's Court held a press conference on the morning of the 8th.
At the meeting, a reporter asked: Many current IPR infringement cases are aimed at the core technology and commercial secrets of enterprises, and the handling of cases is highly complicated. In the new situation, how should the procuratorial organ respond?
Song Jianli responded that the crime of infringing on trade secrets severely disrupted the market competition order and business environment and inhibited the innovation and creativity of market entities.
The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the protection of trade secrets and clearly require the strengthening of criminal enforcement of trade secrets.
Song Jianli introduced the basic situation of criminal cases of infringement of commercial secrets in recent years: First, although the number of cases has increased greatly, the absolute number is relatively small. The number of prosecutions only accounts for 0.5% of the total number of criminal cases of infringement of intellectual property rights in the same period.
The second is the uneven acceptance of cases, with 11 provinces accounting for 80% of the total number of prosecutions in the country.
Third, the non-arrest and non-prosecution rates are relatively high, which are 10% and 5% higher than the non-arrest and non-prosecution rates of all criminal cases in the same period.
Fourth, the proportion of light probation sentences is relatively high. About 80% of the defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of up to three years.
Fifth, the targets of crimes are mostly corporate core technical secrets, and employees or former employees are at high risk of crime.
Song Jianli pointed out that the above situation reflects to a certain extent the following difficulties in combating the crime of infringing on trade secrets: First, it is difficult to discover the case.
Perpetrators often use the convenience of their position or work to facilitate criminal acts, which are difficult for outsiders to detect, and the criminal acts are highly concealed. At the same time, the perpetrators generally have a good academic background, meticulous thinking, and strong anti-investigation capabilities.
Second, it is difficult to obtain evidence.
Due to the secrecy of trade secrets, it takes a long time for companies to discover the infringement of trade secrets and the actual infringement of trade secrets. The original evidence is lost more often, making it more difficult to obtain evidence.
In addition, the business scope of the enterprises involved in the case often involves all parts of the country, and it takes a long time and high cost to obtain evidence. Some cases are affected by local protectionism, and there are many interference factors outside the case, and the resistance to the case is high.
Third, identification is difficult.
Trade secrets, especially technical secrets, cover a wide range of fields, with strong technicality and professionalism. In many fields, appraisal institutions and appraisers are not highly professional, the number is small, appraisal standards are not uniform, and the scientific rationality of appraisal opinions is often controversial. focus.
Fourth, it is difficult to identify criminal facts.
It is often difficult to ascertain key facts such as whether commercial secrets are not publicly known, whether commercial information such as the suspect’s technical secrets and business information are substantially the same as the right holder’s trade secrets, and what calculation standards the right holder adopts for the amount of losses. Not guilty, and its subjective intentional content is also difficult to identify.
Song Jianli said that facing the new situation, the procuratorial organ will take the following measures: First, strengthen the protection of commercial secrets in key technical fields.
Focus on cracking down on commercial secret infringement crimes involving high-tech, key core technologies, and the survival and development of enterprises, and supervise a number of major, difficult and complicated criminal cases of commercial secret infringement.
The second is to intensify the crackdown on crimes of infringement of trade secrets by theft, inducement, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion or other improper means, as well as crimes of stealing, spying, buying, and illegally providing trade secrets for overseas institutions, organizations, and personnel, and strengthen Case filing and supervision work, strict arrest and prosecution in accordance with the law, and recommendations for restricting the application of suspended sentences and imposing high fines.
The third is to strengthen the regulation and business guidance for the handling of trade secret infringement cases.
The procuratorial organs will intensify their efforts to address the above-mentioned problems, analyze in depth the characteristics and laws of crimes infringing on trade secrets, standardize and improve the ability and level of evidence gathering and certification, and improve related systems and measures.
In this guiding case, there is a case of infringement of trade secrets. In the next step, we will improve the quality and efficiency of case handling by strengthening the guidance of case handling, publishing typical cases, and formulating regulatory documents.
The fourth is to properly handle the relationship between the civil infringement procedure of trade secrets and the criminal procedure. It is necessary to pay attention to the relevance of the two procedures and their mutual independence. While protecting trade secrets in accordance with the law, prevent malicious initiation of criminal prosecutions and suppress competition. Opponents, create a good atmosphere in the whole society to respect and protect intellectual property rights.
The fifth is to give full play to procuratorial functions and put forward procuratorial suggestions.
In response to the problems in the protection of business secrets by enterprises and scientific research institutions discovered in the handling of business secret cases, promptly put forward procuratorial recommendations, urge them to improve systems, strengthen management, plug loopholes, and eliminate hidden dangers.