商业秘密保密措施之合理性判断标准

Standards for Assessing the Reasonableness of Trade Secret Confidentiality Measures

保密措施的合理性认定,是我国商业秘密案件的审理难点。对于何为合理的保密措施,理论界也没有提供有价值的参考方案。其表层原因在于,秘密性要件、价值性要件等外在因素的干扰,使得保密措施要件徒有独立之名,却无独立之实。究其深层原因,适用者未认识到保密措施要件的规范目的,在于促进商业秘密的有限分享。基于此规范目的,在义务型获取商业秘密情形中,合理的保密措施表现为义务“范围”和“内容”的限制;在非义务型获取中,保密措施可类型化为商业秘密窃取的阻止措施和反向工程禁止措施,在这两类保密措施中,有关保密措施合理性的争议,均要回归保密措施要件的规范目的才可得以解决。

The determination of the reasonableness of confidentiality measures is a difficult issue in the adjudication of trade secret cases in China.There is no valuable reference solution from the theoretical circle regarding what constitutes reasonable confidentiality measures.On the surface,this is due to the external interference of the secrecy requirement and the value requirement,making the confidentiality measures requirement appear to be independent in name only,without true independence in practice.The deeper reason lies in the failure of practitioners to recognize that the normative purpose of the confidentiality measures requirement is to promote the limited sharing of trade secrets.Based on this normative purpose,in cases of duty-bound acquisition of trade secrets,reasonable confidentiality measures are reflected in the limitation of the“scope”and“content”of the duty.In cases of non-duty-bound acquisition,confidentiality measures can be categorized into the measures to prevent the theft of trade secrets and the measures to prohibit reverse engineering.In both types of confidentiality measures,disputes over the reasonableness of the measures must return to the normative purpose of the confidentiality measures requirement in order to be resolved.