侵害營業秘密罪與不正方法──以還原工程為例

The Crime of Attempt Trade Secrets and Unlawful Means: A Discussion about Reverse Engineering

臺灣營業秘密法在2013年修正後，以第14條之1對侵害營業秘密的行為做出刑罰規制，即便這種附屬刑法的設計看似是我國當代潮流，但仍不免需要思考國家行政管制是否過度依賴刑法的問題。而另一方面，營業秘密三要件中，其秘密性要件的討論在近期以來，受到「還原工程抗辯」的挑戰，對於前述見解，美國或是德國都有學說肯認之，我國司法實務也有採取此見解者。整體而言，本文認同還原工程技術可以作為秘密性要件的抗辯事由，不過對於這個近期所開展的見解，我國司法實務似乎仍需累積更多的裁判結果，或許才能讓營業秘密訴訟的相關爭議未來更有跡可循。

After its amendment in 2013, the Trade Secrets Act of Taiwan introduced criminal penalties for acts that infringe upon trade secrets under Article 14-1. Although this design of subsidiary criminal law seems to align with the contemporary trend in our country, it still raises the question of whether the state’s administrative regulation excessively relies on criminal law. On the other hand, the discussion on the secrecy requirement, one of the three elements of trade secrets, has recently faced challenges regarding the“reverse engineering defense.”This perspective has been acknowledged by legal doctrines in the United States and Germany, as well as some judicial practices in our country. Overall, this article agrees that reverse engineering can serve as a defense for the secrecy requirement. However, regarding this recent development, it seems that our judicial practices still need to accumulate more judicial decisions to establish a clearer direction for future disputes in trade secret litigation.