Aerial photo taken on Sept 17, 2020 shows the Houhai area in Nanshan district of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
Nanshan district in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, took a significant step in enhancing its business environment and intellectual property protection when a local technology company recently inked the city's first business trade secret insurance policy with Guoren Property and Casualty Insurance Co Ltd.
The insurance policy covers appraisal fees, investigation costs, and legal expenses. Notably, the product is designed to alleviate the concerns of enterprises regarding the high costs associated with trade secret appraisal and protection.
Guoren also offers insured companies value-added services such as trade secret consultation, risk scrutiny, and improvement suggestions, in order to lower the trade secret infringement risks in advance.
To address challenges in trade secret identification, Shenzhen issued two standards of enterprise trade secret management and the construction of trade secret protection bases in November
According to China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law, “trade secret” means technical, operational or other commercial information unknown to the public which is of commercial value and for which the rightful holder has taken corresponding confidentiality measures.
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However, it is not an easy task to identify what can be classed as trade secrets and non-public knowledge, and some case filings have not been able to successfully register even after payment of hefty identification fees, said Mei Yingjuan, assistant director of the judicial authentication department at Guangdong Intellectual Property Protection Center.
To address challenges in trade secret identification, Shenzhen issued two standards of enterprise trade secret management and the construction of trade secret protection bases in November.
In Shenzhen, known as a national hub for innovation and technology enterprises, the protection of trade secrets is of particular importance to its business environment. Peng Jianxun, an official of the municipal market supervision authority, said that over the past two years, the city has conducted two rounds of solicitations, inviting 48 pilot enterprises to implement the trade secret protection standards. Some of the participating enterprises have decided to invest millions of yuan in funds dedicated to enhancing their internal trade secret protection, demonstrating a strong commitment to the course.
“Safeguarding IP is tantamount to protecting innovation. Shenzhen has consistently prioritized innovation-driven development as its core strategy. Moving forward, we will expand the two standards to various districts, fields, and industries,” Peng added.
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The use of commercial trade secret insurance has been gaining momentum in recent years across various regions in China. The nation’s first commercial trade secrets insurance policy was introduced in Zhejiang province in 2021, with a premium of 30,000 yuan ($4,201) and coverage of up to 300,000 yuan. Last year, Guangzhou witnessed the province’s first of such insurance purchases with a coverage limit exceeding 1 million yuan. In the same year, a firm in Foshan also purchased such insurance services.
On Jan 9, Zhuhai in Guangdong province also released guidelines for the protection of trade secrets, which provided a framework for businesses and individuals to understand and implement effective trade secret protection measures.
