Trade Secrets Lawyers in China

A trade-secret claim should identify the protected information with enough precision to test secrecy and misuse without unnecessarily disclosing it. Counsel then needs to show that the information was not generally known or readily obtainable, had commercial value, and was protected by reasonable confidentiality measures; trace how each accused person obtained or accessed it; and distinguish independent development, reverse engineering, employee skill, public material, and lawful receipt from acquisition, disclosure or use by improper means.

Questions that change the route

What information is claimed and when did it qualify for protection?

Create a versioned secret schedule covering technical or business information, its boundaries and combinations, creation and ownership, commercial value, what was public or readily obtainable at each relevant date, and the people who knew each part.

Were confidentiality measures matched to the information and risk?

Map classification, marking, contracts, policies, training, role-based access, repositories, encryption, logging, device and download controls, visitor and supplier measures, return or deletion, offboarding, monitoring, incident response, and actual exceptions to the stated controls.

How can acquisition, use, disclosure, and resulting harm be proved?

Trace access events, accounts, devices, downloads, transfers, communications, samples, source files, development timelines, competing products, customer activity, instructions and benefits; preserve evidence lawfully; and coordinate employment, civil, criminal, administrative, injunction and cross-border data issues.

Evidence to organize first

• Versioned secret schedule with source, owner, date, public-domain comparison, commercial value, dependency and authorized-recipient list
• Confidentiality agreements and policies, classification and marking, access permissions and logs, repository and device controls, training, visitor and supplier records, offboarding, return, deletion and exception records
• Forensic acquisition and chain-of-custody record, account and device attribution, downloads and communications, technical or product comparison, independent-development material, customer and sales evidence, loss or gain model, and preservation requests

Official orientation sources: Anti-Unfair Competition Law (2025 revision) · SPC provisions on civil trade-secret infringement cases. Source check: 8 October 2026.