May 2011, Beijing

A new issue in the IPR2 series 'Roadmaps for Intellectual Property Protection' is available – Trade Secrets Protection in China. Companies doing business in China should be particularly aware of the importance of protecting their trade secrets. Although a legal framework for trade secret protection has been established in China, it is relatively new. Businesses need to protect their trade secret to maintain their competitive edge: once a trade secret is disclosed its commercial value is often lost. With the ongoing globalisation and digitisation of society, safeguarding trade secrets has become a more significant challenge for many businesses.

Trade secrets include all types of information, not just information relating to technology. For example, a business contact list may be subject to trade secret protection. This Roadmap considers how trade secrets are protected in China and what measures businesses should take themselves to protect them.

The Roadmap series aims to provide information on the IP systems in China and Europe and to give guidance to both European and Chinese companies in protecting their IP. All issues are available to download free-of-charge at www.ipr2.org/roadmap.