Protecting your Trade Secrets in China

Nearly all businesses in all industries and sectors possess trade secrets: they are a valuable and highly useful form of intellectual property right. It is strongly recommended that you take the adequate steps to protect them because trade secrets can ensure your business advantage over competitors and by being able to prove that you made the effort to keep it secret, you have an option of enforcing your rights against those who misappropriate your trade secrets. Unlike some other forms of IP rights such as patents and copyrights that have a finite term, trade secrets can theoretically enjoy an infinite term of protection so long as the trade secret remains just that - a secret. China, like most other countries, provides a legal framework for the protection for trade secrets, and the law provides for remedies in the event that your trade secrets are unlawfully disclosed.