從智慧財產保護觀點看各國營業秘密法制

Analyzing Global Legal Frameworks for Trade Secret from the Intellectual Property Protection Perspective

營業秘密是中小企業生存之重要命脈，故營業秘密之法律保障是否足夠且全面，對中小企業實屬重要。經比較我國與美國、歐盟、法國、德國及韓國保護營業秘密相關法制，發現各國營業秘密民事保障差異不大。但歐盟、法國、德國之營業秘密法有明定不受營業秘密保護效力所及之例外，此為我國未來可借鏡之處。我國與美國、韓國雖均同有刑事規範，但就法人責任應如何論斷則各不相同，因我國與韓國法較為類似，故認為可以仿韓國法規定之法定免責事由，並輔以民法第188條規定做為參考。至營業秘密犯罪之告訴權是否僅營業秘密所有人或專屬被授權人得行使？本文認為以授權契約法理及多數說應係如此，但營業秘密屬權利或利益仍有爭議，故論理上有檢討調整之空間。

Trade secrets are the lifelines of small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, whether the related legal protections are adequate and comprehensive are extremely important for the said enterprises. After a comparison of the trade secret-related legislations in the US, EU, France, Germany, Korea and Taiwan, we found that the global civil protections for trade secret do not vary much. However, the legislations in the EU, France, and Germany stipulate exceptions of protections, which can be used as our future reference. Although Taiwan, US, and Korea all have criminal regulations, their determinations of corporate liability are different. Since our legislation is more similar to that of Korea, the author opined that we may add exemption clauses by referring to the Korean laws, accompanying with the Article 188 under the Civil Code. As for the ownership of the right to file complaints, the author opined that it shall belong to only the owner or exclusive licensee of the trade secrets. Nonetheless, there’s still room for discussion and adjustment about whether the trade secret is a right or an interest.