DSpace at VNU: Some issues concerning the protection of trade secret and the completion of trade secret protection legislation in Vietnam

VNU. JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, ECONOMICS-LAW, N01E, 2004

SOME IS S U E S CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF TRADE
SEC R ET A N D THE COMPLETION OF TRADE SECRET
PR O TECTIO N LEGISLATION IN VIETNAM

N gu yen Thi Que A nh(,)
Trade

secret

of

m echanism of V ietn am w ith those of other

intellectual p ro p e rty rig h ts is one of the

developed nation s which have a lot of

categories

which

extensively

as

the

has

studied.

object
been

not

experience in this field as well as compare

addition,

the

th e

still
In

re q u ire m e n ts

for

tra d e

secret

in te rn a tio n a l

treaties

p a rticip ated

or will

application of th e s tip u la tio n s related to

protection

tra d e secret is too little if we don’t w a n t to

th a t V ietnam

say th a t it h as not been in existence in

p articipate in. Then, the a u th o r advances

reality. The form ation of th e tra d e secret

some proposals, aim ing a t completing the

protection

re g u la tio n s

tra d e

legislation

can

be

considered

incomplete.

On

th e

o th e r

in

V ie tn am ’s
to

h an d,

to th e
has

secret

protection

legislation

in

Vietnam.

be

son e

1. An O verview o f th e Trade S ecret
P ro tectio n L eg isla tio n S ystem in
the W orld

scholars have show n t h a t a t p re s e n t the
shortcomings of th e tr a d e secret protection
system usually cause more inhibition to

Trade secret is one of the traditional

foreign in v estm en t th a n the lim itations in
the

protection

of

o th e r

objects of intellectual property rights. In

intellectual

th e

property objects {4, p . 88 }. Therefore, the
completion of
legislation

tr a d e

not

only

secret

up

secret.

up

th e

economic

U ntil

the

tr a d e

secret

of

secret

didn’t

seơret

of a

p articu lar

th e

In d u s tria l
n a tu re

Revolution

in

of know-hows and

tra d e secrets h ad gradu ally changcd. The

fe a tu re s of tra d e s ec re t protection as the
co m pare

professional

th e

Europe, the

the aspects of tra d e secret notion and the
property

notion

individual.

In this article, th e a u th o r will pre sen t

of in d u s tria l

Vheir

knowledge,

growth

th ro u g h foreign in v e s tm e n t attraction.

object

th e

exist in docum ents, b u t it simply was the

region and the world b u t also contributes
speeding

before

w orkers h a d conserved th e ir professional

the

in tegratio n process of V ietnam into the
to

days

intellectual property w as first used, skilled

protection

speeds

old

complexity of th e production process and

rights,

th e wide-open re lation sh ip s required to

protection

have a record and p a p e r system and a t the
sam e
n Dr., Faculty of Law, V ietnam National University,
Hanoi.

tim e

offered

employees

the

possibilities to change th e ir employers.

35


36

N guyen T h ỉ Q u e Anh

From t h a t time, th e two tre n d s which

employees (eg: customs officers, policemen...)

th re a te n e d the e n tire ty of know-hows and

are u n d e r an obligation not to reveal the

tra d e

th e

secrets they approach w hen th ey do th e ir

unfaithful a ttitu d e of some w orkers to

work th ro u g h the special contracts. This

th eir ex-employers occurred; second, the

model exists in G re a t B ritain a n d in some

documents and p a p ers re la tin g to these

of its colonies such as A u stra lia a n d India.

secrets were stolen. To settle a p a rt of this

In A ustralia,

situation,

the

p a rtic u la r tra d e secret protection law, but

provisions

the legislation of A ustralia is applied to

have

a

exam ine th e civil and crim inal liabilities to

liability to keep secret th e know-hows and

those who m ake m istakes in revealing

the tra d e secrets th e y approached during

secret inform ation illegally (3, p. 59- 64).

secrets

employers

employment
which

emerged:

introduced

contracts

required

First,

th e

employees

in

to

work process. It w as considered as an
effective method of resistin g employees’
unfaithful a ttitu d e s as well as th e stealing
of th e secret inform ation m entioned above.
T ie sta te passed th e law system to re sist
this

situation

by

s tre n g th e n in g

the

sanction m easu res to deal w ith the people
who violate the liability above.

for exam ple

th e re is no

In some o th er countries, besides the
mode of tra d e secret protection thro ug h
th e a d ju stm e n t of th e employer-employee
a n d tra d in g p a rtn e r relationships, th ere
a re regulations rela ted to th e protection
for this object, which are s ca tte re d in
different legal docum ents such as the laws
a g ain st u n fair competition, of inform ation

So far, in most of countries in the

and

inform ation

protection

and

the

th e protection of tra d e secret h as

operations of ju d g m e n t office, tax office

bren given an a p p ro p ria te position in the

and insurance office,... This fact exists in

law system s which protect the goals of

some countries such as G erm any, Austria,

people’s intellectual work. However, in the

Italy a n d Russia.

w )rld ,

developing

countries

w ith

a

little

experience in th e protection for intellectual
property in general a n d tra d e secret in
particular, the se ttle m e n t of th is m a tte r is
qiite different.

In some countries, the protection for
tra d e secret is im plem ented on th e basis of
p a rtic u la r law docum ents of th is object,

combined w ith a few stip ulation s in o ther
law

documents.

In

1979,

America

secret

introduced th e general law of tra d e secrets

protection is prim arily im p le m e n te d on th e

(The Uniform T rad e Secrets Act). The

bisis of the con tract signed by employers

tra d e

aid employees or by tra d in g p a rtn e rs. The

defined by the law system s of th e states,

liibility of revealing secret inform ation is

basically su itable to this law. A m erica’s

e:amined

civil

law of trade secret protection is appreciated

relationships betw een th e p a rtie s to the

and considered as one the most perfect law

contract.

system s in this field (5, p. 8).

In

some

in
In

countries,

the

scope

addition,

th e

tra d e

of

the

civil service

secret

protection

is

specifically

VNU, Journal o f Science, Econom ics-Law, N„IE, 2004


Some issues co n c e rn in g the protection of.

In

som e

o th e r

37

countries,

the

mechanism of tra d e secret protection is
g u aran teed by th e general stip ulatio ns of
labour law, civil law and crim inal law. The
laws of som e countries such as France,
Poland, S w itz e rla n d provide tra d e secret

know n as tra d e secret; (3) s tre n g th e n in g
liability, including crim inal liability a n d
civil liability to th e s ta te civil s e r v a n ts
working in th e fields related to t r a d e
secrets.

the mode of lab ou r relationships, employees

In
addition,
th e
re la tio n s h ip s
concerning tra d e secret protection are a lso
adjusted to conform w ith th e mode of

have

relating

protection in th e following directions:(l) In
responsibility

to

protect

secret

in te rn a tio n a l

conventions.

In

to

1900, in th e conference of considering a n d

th e ir ex-employers when

modifying Convention P a ris of in d u s tria l

they te rm in a l th e ir work contract; (2 ) the

property rig h ts in Brussels, the rig h ts

civil liability of th e people who propagate

a g ain st

the secret inform ation which is assigned

supp lem en ted in the mode of th e object of

by the o th e rs or called “t r u s t a b u se ”; (3)

in d u stria l property, which were protected
in accordance w ith th is convention. Article
lObis provides: the m em ber countries h av e

information

and

compete w ith

the

crim inal

are

liability

not

th e

allowed

s ta te

civil

servants and the officials of the offices which
examine

th e

secret

inform ation

u n fa ir

responsibility

to

competition

e n su re

for

w e re

the

o th e r

m em bers’ citizens th e effective liability
a g ain st u n fair competition actions, each of

propagation.
Finally, a n o th e r mode of tra d e secret
protection is to protect m ainly th e legal

the
u n fa ir
competition
actions
is
u nderstood to be any actions again st the

docum ents of each production or business

h on est custom s in in d u s try a n d business.

unit,

which

is

usually

called

“law

of

em ployees’ behaviour ru les'. This mode is

The seizing of secret information on
technology or tra d e secret is obviously

applied in J a p a n (1).

considered

It is possible to find in reality th a t the
trade secret protection in each country in
the world is different in th e approach to
settling problem s on th e one h a n d and has
certain common tre n d s on th e other. The
common tre n d s a re as follows: ( 1 ) T here is
no p a rtic u la r tra d e secret protection law
(America can be considered an exception.
Because of the high independence of the
states in legislation, it is necessary to have
a common tra d e secret law to e nsu re the
unity of a d ju stin g the re la tio n sh ip s of this
object); (2 ) e n h an c in g th e responsibility of
employees to protection for th e inform ation

VNU. Journal o f Science. Econom ics-Luw, N J E , 2004

to

be

“a g a in s t

the

honest

custom s
in
in d u s try
and
bu siness”
m entioned above. Thus, it is possible to
consider this as th e first intern atio nal
article

which

provides

indirectly

the

protection for th e inform ation considered
as tra d e secret.
U ntil the end of th e tw e n tie th century

the protection for th e object mentioned
above

w as

recorded

in

te rm s

of the

regulations of the protection for secret
inform ation as th e object of intellectual
p roperty rig h ts in th e m u ltilateral trade
a g re em e n ts

on

th e

tra d e

aspects

of


N guycn Thi Que Anh

38

intellectual

property

rig h ts

(TRIPS).

trade secret h a s a wide ra n g e of specific

Article No 39.1 of this a g re e m e n t provides:
“to ensu re th e effective protection against

features.

unfair

in

subject to a set of c ertain knowledge (4, p.

article No lObis of th e P a ris Convention

5). The legal tool in th e h a n d of trad e

(1967), the m em ber countries m u st protect

secret ow ners can allow th e m

the

certain ability to re s ist th e violations of the

competition

secret

actions

inform ation

provided

and

docum ents

handed to the governm ent or
governm ental offices...” Moreover,

the
the

mentioned article provides some specific
regulations
of
secret

inform ation
protection. R em arkably, th e term “secret
inform ation” is used in th is article to insist
on the fact th a t th e protection for this
object m ust be larg er th a n th e conceptions
which have existed for over h a lf a century;
for example, tra d e secret, know-how, the

The

basis

of

tra d e

secret

protection is th e real monopoly of certain

to have

people around, b u t th e se tools are not as
effective as those of th e o w ners of other
intellectual property rights. Therefore, the
existence of juridical capacity of trade
secret ow ners d epends on them selves, the
com prehensiveness
the

and

effectiveness of

m e asu re s which th e

ow ners apply

aiming a t protecting th e ir exclusive rights
of th e information.

list of tra d in g p a rtn e rs, TR IPS is the most

The next fe a tu re is th e high generality

comprehensive m u ltilate ra l a g re em e n t on

of tra d e secret. If invention, industrial

trad e secret protection.

design, tra d e m a r k a n d o th e r objects of

T rade secret is one of th e contents
related to the intellectual property rights
mentioned in the V ietnam - America Trade
Agreement.

Basically,

th e

stipulations

related to the Paris Convention and TRIPS
A greem ent is considered to be th e basis of
the

two

countries’

responsibilities

to

intellectual property rig h ts can be defined
as the products of creative work, trad e
secret can be defined as various m aterials
related

to

information,

technological

m a n ag e m e n t,

finance

and

different operation aspects of trade. Trade
secret can be the solutions which can be
protected

protect this object.

production,

as

invention,

trad em ark ,

industrial design, b u t for one reason the

2.F eatu res o f T rade S ec r e t and
C riteria o f Trade S e c r e t P r o tectio n
2.
1. F e a tu re s o f T ra d e S e c re t a s th e
O bject o f I n d u s tr ia l P r o p e rty R ig h ts
Being one of the objects of in d ustrial

owner

doesn’t

w ant

to

announce

and

register it in accordance w ith the legal
formalities of p a ten t. Moreover, the ability
of th e

bu sin essm en

who

consider

the

inform ation t h a t they have a s trade secret
is not boundless. Any s ta te s have the

property rights, tra d e secret h as sufficient

rights

features

the

businessm en, fully and timely obey the

invisibility of the objects a n d the re su lt of

paym ent duty, assess th e influences of

people’s intellectual

business operations on th e surroundings,

of

intellectual
work.

property:
In

addition,

to

supervise

th e

operations

of

VNU, Journal o f Science, Econom ics-Law, N J E . 2004


Some issues concerning the protection of.

39

etc. Thus, law provides th a t some kinds of
inform ation c an ’t be considered as tra d e
secret:

business

docum ents

registration

re la ted

to

perm its,

finance

and

accounting operations in accordance with
legal regulations, information of quan tity

and

composition,

conditions

salary,

of employees,

e n v iro n m e n ta l

the

working

documents

of

pollution level,

consum ption of noxious products, etc.
A no th er featu re of tra d e secret is to
help distin gu ish it from other forms of
intellectual
property known
as the
lim itlessness o f protection time. Trade
secret rig h ts are protected w hen the real

exclusive rig h ts
of the subjects to
inform ation still exist and the information
meets completely the protection requừements
provided by th e law. This m akes the choice
of th e forms to protect the object known as
tra d e secret become more attractiv e to
businessm en , especially in case the
principle of lim ited time protection doesn’t
satisfy th e ir business profits.

which inform ation needs to be protected as
trad e secret.
TRIPS
A greem ent
addressed
the
m inim um
criteria
of
trad e
secret
protection such as the protection for the
inform ation u n d e r the legal control of
individuals and legal people if the
information:
- has secrecy w ith the m eaning th a t it
is widely know n or it is easy of approach
for the people who often contact the
information;

- h as tra d e values because it is secret;
- was protected by the people with legal
rights to im plem en t th e reasonable
m easures in accordance with the real
situation. (Item 2, Provision 31, TRIPS
Agreement)
Analyzing the senses above indicates
that

to be

inform ation

protected
m u st

as

m eet

trade
the

secret,

following

protection criteria:
First, it m u s t have secrecy or in other

Finally, tra d e secret known as the
object of intellectual property rights
doesn’t re q u ire the legal acknow ledgm ent
of protected possibility, the reg istration
th ro u g h ap pro p ria te authorities, and the
im p le m e n ta tio n of formalities or fee
paym ent. This is also significant to the
choice of tra d e secret protection forms of
th e object which is the goal of people’s
creative works.
2.2.
P r o te c tio n

C rite ria

of

T ra d e

S ecret

Like o th e r forms of intellectual
pro p e rty rights, the law of tra d e secret
protection provides a range of criteria

V NU, Journal o f Science. Economics-Law, N„JE, 2004

word, it c an ’t be free to approach the
inform ation legally. If any of the interested
th ird

people

can

get

access

to

the

inform ation legally, th a t information can ’t
be protected as tra d e secret. For example,
studying available information, analyzing
the models of products circulated in the
m arket, catching up w ith the information
th ro u g h different means, etc.
Second, it m u st have tra d e values. In
o th er

words,

inform ation

th e

exploitation

values im plem ented

of

by its

holders at p re sen t or in the fu ture will
create more a d v an ta g e s for them th a n the


N guyen Thi Q u e A nh

4 L -—

vvho don’t hold th is inform ation. On

It is necessary to em p hasize

t h a t th e

protection conditions m entioned above a re

bi«is of th is criterion, some of the
tie
^ (VVing inform ation will not be protected

of great significance. However, the la st

* tr i secret:

criterion is of decisive significance. If th e

nformation t h a t is not paid a tte n tio n

to

yy he people around;

’t ice wO gain th e ir tra d e purposes; etc.
èư *
rliitií ởr implicit tra d e values c an ’t be
;o th e others. T he o th e r people here
Ve u nd erstoo d as th e ones for whom
tr< 1
^ ^formation b rin gs a b o u t c ertain tra d e
exam ple,

m a n u fa ctu rers

0 ni3t3 with th e m a n u fa c tu re rs who have

(J secret,

th e

c o nsum ers

of

th e ir

)dic*s and services.

)CỊ

necessary

of these

^ veSịied an d

m easures.

protection
plentiful.

to

conserve

specific

tra d in g p a rtn e rs , th e possibility to protect

3. Som e P ro p o sa ls for C om p letin g th e
L eg isla tio n
an d
R a isin g
th e
E fficien cy o f th e P r o tectio n for

Trade S ecret in V ietn am
The

general

intellectual

re q u ire m e n t

property

in

V ietn am

for
w hen

en terin g the 2 1 st c en tu ry is

to set up a

complete

intellectual

law

system

of

property (the protection for every object

rhfd, it m u s t be protected by the
n r c with

obligation

th e profits of tra d e secret is very low.

Ịvoreover, th e inform ation th a t h as

For

the

private inform ation such as em ployees or

'[^formation th a t th e people around

f-g

ow ners of tra d e secret don’t pay a tte n tio n

The

m easu res

is

They can

be

and

th e

complete

and

com prehensive

protection in te rm s of content, scope and
duration) an d th e efficiency in accordance
with in te rn a tio n a l s ta n d a r d s (the

legal

t »hiical organizational, legal m easures

norm s m ust be reaso nable and realizable,

at preven tin g th e o th e rs ’ illegal

the violation of intellectual property rights

Tviich from th e inform ation which

aP
erf piotecting. It d o esn ’t req uire the

m u st be legally treated ), especially the

nlg

criteria

in

TR IPS

A greem ent.

The

/ r p of the inform ation to apply the

expansion of the scope of th e protected

a ] m easu res to protect it. The
s-e*
r t-irc e is t h a t the specific behaviours
iip
fte owners m u st express a desire to

objects, including tra d e secret not only

n *r'e the secrecy of th e inform ation

technology and b u sin ess knowledge b u t

hih h 3y are holding. T he necessary an d

also

df£i»n- condition is th a t th e ow ners have

developm ent

e-ju'e*

t0

re s tric t

th e

access

to

fYiraton; w hen th e re is (eg: employees),
ieovn«rs m u st m ake th e m u n d e rs ta n d
r - j

s impossible to d isse m in a te the

^■rr^ton w itho ut th e o w n ers’ approval.

m eets

th e

re q u ire m e n ts

developm ent
is

process

an

of

im p o rta n t
stra teg ies

for

the

science

an d

step
of

in

the

intellectual

property in V ietnam . However, with th e
complexity

of

th e

protection

for

the

p a rtic u la r object which is tra d e secret and
tog eth er

w ith

th e

application

of

stipu lation s on this which is still too little,

V N U . Journal o f Science, Economics-Law', N J E . 2004


Some issues concerning the protection of.

the tra d e secret protection law in V ietnam

- It is protected by the owner vs

can be said to be in the form ation and

necessary

development. In general the esta b lish m e n t

inform ation will not be leaked 0 it

of th e law system of intellectual property

easily approached.

protection in general m u st be based on the
experience of th e developed countries. On
the o ther han d, to meet th e re q u ire m e n ts
for the integratio n into the region and the
world,

we

m u st

have

th e

legal

environm ent which is appropriate, b u t not
too far a p a rt from the world. F irst of all, to
participate

in

the

World

Trade

O rganization (WTO), e sta b lish m e n t of a
law

system

of

intellectual

property

protection in accordance w ith th e criteria
of

m inim um

protection

m entioned

in

TRIPS Agreement is undeniably a neccessity.
Given

th a t,

the

proposals

for

completing the legislation of tra d e secret
protection, which we m entioned here, are

m e asu re s

so

th a t

k

On the whole, th e protection
m entioned

above

are

suitable

0

h

criteria of TRIPS A greem ent, whtCl
analyzed above. A nother problem

define

the

Analyzing

violation
th e

to

trade

regulations

o
® t<
st(r

of T^]pt

A greem ent indicates t h a t th e re ar-> ,0
modes

of

receiving

the

inform, t
1L01
belonging to o ther people’s secret trQj ( not considered as th e violation ni 1
m
rights of th e inform ation owner. r»r ( j
secret protection is not applied tc I
inform ation which is received as thfr

J

of th e following processes:
- ind e p en d e n t invention
- reverse analysis

m ainly based on TRIPS stip ulatio ns and
the

experience

consultancy

of

the

developed countries. We will m ention some
problems as follows:
To determ ine the scope o f protected
objects
Provision No. 6, Decree No. 54/ CP on
the in d ustrial property protection for trade
secret, geographical indications, trad e
na m es addressed the notion of tra d e secret
know n as the invested achievem ent in
te rm s of information, w ith the following
conditions:
- It is not common knowledge.

- hon est inform ation reception

According to Item 2, Provisioi \L Q
o
Decree No. 54/ CP, one of th> a '-iCig
considered as in d u stria l property v 0]tt
to tra d e secret is “th e revelation ỉn< Ịse I
the inform ation belonging to trade s»c t
w ithout the perm ission from the 0 vi>r

ị

th a t tra d e secret.” The conterx of ị
norm can lead to th e understíniiíT
contradiction

w ith

the

reguliti)n

f

TRIPS A greem ent on th e d e te rm n tt),n f
violation of tra d e secret. According t(t^
regulation, th e an n o u n cem en t aic \xe £

- It is applicable to b u sin ess and w hen
applied, it will create more a d v an ta g e s for
th e ow ner th a n the people who don’t hold

the inform ation which is the reail ( iLe
in d e p en d e n t
invention
and -eei

or use it.

inform ation

VNi f . Journal o f Science. Economic*-Law, N„l E, 2004

analysis processes or honestly 8:qịỉ(j
can

be

considerei 1ItC i10_


N g uyen Thi Que Anh

42

viclatiion to th e rig h ts of tra d e secret

products

ov n er. Therefore, in o u r opinion, it is

products

n e c e s s a r y to su p p le m e n t t h e

regulations

legislation solves th is issu e in a larger

in d u stria l

scope: All th e acts of approaching and

on t h e

acts

p n p e rty

considered

violation

as

of

tra d e

secret,

an d

a g ric u ltu ra l

m entioned

acquiring th e

above.

in form atio n

V ie tn am ’s

belonging to

i n c l u d i n g the acquistion of th e inform ation

other

made m e n tio ned above which is considered

subm it in accordance w ith the procedure to

tobe legal.

apply

T he Trade Secret Protection for the

people’s tra d e

chemical

for

b u sin ess

and

w hen

they

circulation

perm ission in o rder to be a g ain st the
protection

Operations o f the S ta te Office

secret

m e asu re s

of

ad m in istra tio n

offices, or the use of t h a t inform ation for
C o m p e ten t s ta te offices have the rights

to re q u ire

e n te rp ris e s

to

provide

in o rm atio n

about

th e ir

the

operation

business purpose and for the purpose of
applying
perm ission

to
a re

b u sin ess
all

or

circulation

considered

as

the

characteristics as well as th e ir goods and

ind u strial

services. It is special th a t some products

secret. (Item 4, Provision 18, Decree No.

cbsely re la ted to the safety of consum ers

54/ CP). It is possible to consider this as an

sich

medicines, chem ical substance

ad van tag e of th e tra d e secret protection

used for agriculture, th e products used for

system of V ietnam . However, raising the

anation, etc. m u s t be qualitatively tested

efficiency of th e tra d e secret protection

b ’ the co m p eten t s ta te office. At th a t time

system in relation to th e s ta te offices’

tie

secret

exam ination a n d supervision of products

^formation alw ays need to be protected so

does not stop th ere. In o u r point of view,

tlat that information will not be fallen

the issue above will be comprehensively

iito the hand of th e ir competitors. To solve

solved in the following directions:

as

en terp rises

which

have

tlis contradiction, Item 3, Provision No.39,
TUPS

A g reem ent

eiperiments

or

provides

d a ta

th a t

the

are

not

which

rivealed w hen su b m itte d as a condition to
ritify

th a t

th e

m a rk e tin g

of

piarmaceutical products or a g ricultu ral
ciemical products used w ith new chemical
ilgredients m u s t be protected from the
unhealthy use in b u sin ess a n d revelation
ii som e certain cases.

T hese stipulations

ii 7KIPS A greem ent clearly have a limited
cope.

The

s ta te

offices

afferent

inform ation

Ịroducts

ou tside

th e

can

re la ted

require
to

the

p h arm aceu tical

p rop erty

violation

to

tra d e

First, it is n ecessary to exam ine the
liability of the staffs of th e s ta te offices in
a u th o rity to th e acts of revealing the
inform ation know n as tr a d e secret which
they approach w h en th e y do their work.
Item 2, Provision 2, Decree No. 12/ CP

d ated M arch 6th, 1999 “on the fine in the
field of in d u stria l p ro p e rty ” provides:
Every organization a n d every individual
who in ten tio naly u n in te n tio n a ly acts
which violates th e s tip u la tio n s of the
S ta te ’s protection and m an ag e m e n t of
in d u stria l property, a re u n d e r the level of
being held crim inal liability is fined in
accordance with the fine ordinance and the

VNU, Journal o f Science, Economics-Law, N0IE, 2004


Some issues concern ing the protection of...

43

Decree m entioned above. However, until
now th e re h a v e n ’t been any specific
stipulations related to th e determ in ation of
the liability of the staffs in the s ta te offices
which have competence to grant permissions
related
to
business
or
circulation
permissions of products on the revelation
of the inform ation known as the trade
secret of th e people who apply for th e sorts

of perm issions above.
Second, it is necessary to limit and
stipulate
specifically
the
scope
of
information th a t e n terp rises need to
subm it to the sta te offices and the
a u th o rities w hen they apply for business
perm issions or the circulation perm issions
of products. If the offices m entioned above
advance the re q u ire m e n ts out of the
allowed scope, the people who apply for
perm issions can refuse to provide the
information related to th e ir tra d e secret.
C om bining the law o f in d u stria l
property protection for trade secret w ith
other legal form s.
As
m entioned
above,
of
m any
developing countries of the world, th e law

of tra d e
secret
protection
is

the
combination of legal stip u la tio n s of some
different fields. This originates from the
features of tra d e secret which is the
monopoly of th e ow ner about certain
information. In th a t content, th e form as
well as th e application scope of that
information is diversified and plentiful
Thus, to protect effectively th e object
known as tra d e secret, it re q u ire s a
combination of m any
different law
branches. Even it is not necessary to
prom ulgate a specific legal docum ent on
this object. The importance IS the
harm onious
and
comprehensive
combination of law branches. Therefoie
for V ietnam , to gether w ith the completion
of the tra d e secret protection stipulations
in Decree No. 54/CP a n d law documents
related to in d u stria l property protection
(technology transfer, violation treatment
in in du strial property, etc.), the protection
for tra d e secret m u st be mentioned ar.d
dealt with in o ther fields such as law )f
employm ent contracts, law of unfair
competition, custom s office operation tix
b ureau and others.

REFERENCES
1.

B.B. Ratrcôvxki, Pháp luật nước ngoài về bí mật kinh doanh, Tạp chí Luật học (Liên barg
Nga) sô 3/ 1999, tr. 104.

2.

Chiến lược phát triển hoạt động sỏ hữu công nghiệp đến năm 2010, Tài liệu của Cục sả hiu
công nghiệp Bộ khoa học công nghệ môi trường.

3.

Kồlômiex A., Bảo hộ thông tin !à bí mật kinh doanh, (So sánh tổng quan pháp luật của Lién
bang Nga và nước ngoài), Tạp chí Pháp luật (Liên bang Nga) số’2/ 1998, tr. 59-64).

4.

Megxo P.B., Xergeep A. p., Sở hữu chí tuệ, Matxcơva, 2000, tr. 88 (sách dịch từ tiến? Arh
sang tiếng Nga).

5.

Xôlôviev E., Bí m ật kinh doanh và bảo hộ bí mật kinh doanh, Matxcơva, 1997, tr.8

VNU. Journal o f Science, Econom ic S-Luw, N„IE, 2004


44

N guyen Thi Q u e Anh

TẠP CHỈ KHOA HỌC ĐHQGHN, KINH TỂ - LUẬT, s ố 1E, 2004

MỘT
• SỐ VẤN ĐỂ VỂ BẢO HỘ• BÍ MẬT
• KINH DOANH VÀ VIỆC
• THựC
•
HIỆN
• PHÁP LUẬT
• BẢO HỘ
• BÍ MẬT
• KINH DOANH CỦA VIỆT
• NAM
N g u y ễn Thị Q u ế Anh
K hoa L uật, Đ ại học Quốc g ia , H à N ội
Bài viết trìn h bày n h ữ n g nghiên cứu về một số v ấn đề lí th u y ế t bảo hộ bí m ậ t kinh
d oanh và việc thực h iệ n P h á p lu ậ t bảo hộ bí m ậ t k in h doanh của V iệt N am. Dựa trê n n hữ n g
p h â n tích khoa học, tác giả sơ lược hệ th ô n g P h á p lu ậ t bảo hộ bí m ậ t kinh doanh trê n th ế
giới, nêu lên n h ữ n g đặc điểm của bí m ậ t k in h doanh và n h ữ n g tiêu c h u ẩ n bảo hộ bí m ật
k in h doanh với tư cách là đối tượng của quyền sở h ữu trí tu ệ và đồng thời nêu ra giải pháp
cho việc thực hiện P h á p lu ậ t và n ân g cao hiệu qu ả cua bảo hộ bí m ậ t kinh d oanh ở Việt
Nam.

VNU, Journal o f Science, Econom ics-Law, N J E , 2004