Recently, the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing concluded a case of infringement of trade secrets. After hearing and ruling, Zhao was held responsible for the infringement to Homehelp Education Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Homehelp Company), supporting Homehelp Company's claim for 1.5 times punitive damages. During Zhao's tenure, he violated his confidentiality obligations and company confidentiality requirements by disclosing company business data to others, which constituted an infringement of trade secrets. The company sued Zhao for punitive damages and ordered him to compensate for economic losses of 500000 yuan. Homework Help Company claims that it provides online education services through its "Homework Help" app, and the Homework Help brand is well-known to consumers in the field of online education. Zhao signed a labor contract with the homework company, mainly responsible for daily data monitoring, special data analysis, and other work in junior high school and other businesses, and signed a confidentiality agreement with the homework company. The homework help company discovered that during Zhao's tenure, he disclosed business data related to the renewal rate, registration number, prepaid income, live streaming attendance rate, conversion rate, refund rate, and investment return rate to clients of relevant intermediary companies through one-on-one telephone interviews, and allowed others to use it. Based on this, he obtained high economic benefits and violated the business secrets of the homework help company. Zhao argued that the data involved in the case does not involve the company's business strategy and marketing methods, and is not commercial or practical. Zhao's use of basic and rough data to assist the company does not constitute infringement of trade secrets. Zhao conducted an interview through the introduction of an outside company. If the outside company knows that the interview involved the use of trade secrets and caused losses to the operation assistance company, the operation assistance company should file a lawsuit together with the above-mentioned companies as defendants. The benefits obtained by Zhao due to his involvement in the case are essentially part-time labor income, and his involvement in the case should not be considered as an infringement of trade secrets. Regarding whether the business data involved in the case constitutes a trade secret: Firstly, the seven categories and a total of more than 60 items of data claimed by Job Help Company in this case reflect their own business related situation during the provision of online education services. There is no evidence to show that the data involved can be obtained or widely known by relevant personnel in the field through public channels, so the data involved in the case is business information that is not known to the public. Secondly, the homework assistance company clearly stipulates the content and confidentiality obligations of confidential information through labor contracts, confidentiality agreements, and employee manuals, and sets access permissions and approval mechanisms for the data involved. Therefore, before the alleged infringement occurs, confidentiality measures that are basically suitable for the value of the data involved were taken. Thirdly, homework helps companies analyze and evaluate their current business situation based on the data involved, and provides a basis for making future development decisions, which has commercial value. In summary, the data involved in the case meets the constitutive requirements of trade secrets and should be protected by law. Zhao argued that the data involved in the case did not constitute a trade secret, but no evidence to the contrary was submitted, and the court did not accept it. After the court heard the case, it was found that Zhao, as an employee of the homework assistance company, had obtained the relevant access rights after approval. In a one-on-one phone interview with clients of companies outside the case, he provided the data and allowed the other party to use it
Edit：Jia Jia Responsible editor：Zhou Shu
Source：rmfyb.chinacourt.org
Special statement: if the pictures and texts reproduced or quoted on this site infringe your legitimate rights and interests, please contact this site, and this site will correct and delete them in time. For copyright issues and website cooperation, please contact through outlook new era email：lwxsd@liaowanghn.com
Recommended Reading Change it 
Home
