On October 21, 2020, China’s National People’s Congress released a second draft of the amended criminal law. Perhaps because of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) increased enforcement of the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) targeting China as a beneficiary, the Chinese draft retains a provision for foreign-related trade secret theft from the first draft. Specifically, Article 219 will have a new paragraph, “For stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing trade secrets to foreign institutions, organizations, or personnel, it shall be punished …
Category: Trade Secrets
China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate Amends Prosecution Standards for Criminal Trade Secret Theft
On September 18, 2020, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the Ministry of Public Security released the Decision of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the Ministry of Public Security on Amending the Prosecution Standards for Criminal Cases of Commercial Secret Infringement (最高人民检察院 公安部关于修改侵犯商业秘密刑事案件立案追诉标准的决定). The decision brings the prosecution standards in line with the recent Supreme People’s Court issuance of Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights (3) (关于办理侵犯知识产权刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释（三）), notably, the reduction in threshold required to prosecute …
China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Opinions on Increasing Sanctions for Intellectual Property Infringement
The Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China released the “Opinions on Increasing the Punishment of Intellectual Property Infringement Acts According to Law” (关于依法加大知识产权侵权行为惩治力度的意见) on September 15, 2020. The opinions confirm the primacy of injunctions and potentially increases the amount of monetary damages typically awarded. The opinions also cover strengthening evidence preservation and increasing criminal enforcement of the intellectual property laws. Notably, the opinions amend Article 20 (now Article 15) from the draft opinions by removing a foreigner-targeted clause, …
China’s Threshold for Criminal Trade Secret Misappropriation to Drop to 300,000 RMB
On September 13, 2020, China’s Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate released the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights (3) (关于办理侵犯知识产权刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释（三）) effective September 14, 2020. One of the key highlights in this Judicial Interpretation is the reduction in the threshold for criminal misappropriation of trade secrets. Previously, the threshold was 500,000 RMB (~$73 thousand USD) and will now be 300,000 RMB.