Recently, the Shenzhen Municipal Administration for Market Regulation has issued the Guidelines for Trade Secret Protection in the Low-Altitude Economy Industry and the Guidelines for Trade Secret Protection in the Biomedical Industry. The two guidelines provide practical all-process trade secret protection guidance covering pre-incident prevention, in-process control and post-incident remedy for the two strategic emerging industries, so as to serve and boost the development of new-quality productive forces.
As important components of Shenzhen’s “20+8” industrial clusters, the low-altitude economy and biomedical industry are emerging as a pivotal engine driving the high-quality economic development of Shenzhen, featuring strong innovation momentum and prominent strategic value. Characterized by high technological intensity and dynamic innovation, these two industries have trade secrets such as core algorithms and clinical test data that are directly tied to enterprises’ core competitiveness, resulting in an increasingly pressing demand for trade secret protection. Based on in-depth research, the two guidelines put forward targeted protection strategies in close alignment with industrial characteristics, including effective identification and definition of trade secrets, improvement of internal trade secret protection systems, prevention of infringement upon others’ trade secrets, and rights protection measures in case of trade secret infringement. These measures help enterprises build a comprehensive protection system that runs through research and development, production and commercialization.
In addition, the Guidelines include a dedicated chapter on typical cases, which interprets laws through real cases in response to difficult issues of concern to enterprises, such as illegal disclosure of technical secrets, information leakage by partners, protection of customer lists, and repeated infringement after settlement. They also compile public service resources for trade secret protection in Shenzhen, specifying the content and application methods of three public welfare services: guidance on the construction of trade secret management systems, online risk assessment of trade secret management, and one-on-one guidance on cross-border trade secret protection. All these reflect distinct characteristics of being practice-oriented and empowerment-oriented.
The issuance of the two guidelines is a manifestation of Shenzhen’s continuous efforts to strengthen trade secret protection. As one of the first national pilot areas for trade secret protection innovation, Shenzhen has successively issued more than 10 standards and guidelines, including China’s first group standards for trade secret protection in the fields of artificial intelligence and embodied intelligent robots. The city has built an offline service network covering bases, service windows and workstations as well as an online service zone across the whole city, providing guidance for over 1,000 enterprises to establish trade secret management systems. It has also jointly built the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cross-border Trade Secret Protection Base with the Guangdong Provincial Administration for Market Regulation, offering full-chain and professional guidance for enterprises to address overseas trade secret disputes.
The Shenzhen Municipal Administration for Market Regulation has specially formulated and issued the Administrative Law Enforcement Guidelines for Trade Secret Infringement, and continuously intensified law enforcement efforts. Since the launch of the innovation pilot work, a total of 31 trade secret infringement cases have been investigated and dealt with, with fines and confiscations totalling 2.56 million yuan, and 3 cases have been transferred for criminal liability pursuit. These stringent measures have effectively safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of innovation entities. Meanwhile, Shenzhen holds an annual “Service Month for Improving Enterprises’ Trade Secret Protection Capabilities”, having organized more than 400 law popularization and training activities in total. These initiatives have steadily raised enterprises’ awareness and capabilities in trade secret protection, and fostered a sound atmosphere of upholding trade secret protection and respecting business ethics.
The release of the Guidelines is a precise response to the protection needs of the low-altitude economy and biomedical industry. At present, the two guidelines have been officially published via the special service column of Trade Secret Protection on the official website of the Shenzhen Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, and are available for free download and use by relevant innovation entities.
