Quick Answers · China Legal Wiki

What Is a Trade Secret Under Chinese Law?

Under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, a trade secret is commercial information that is not known to the public, has commercial value, and is subject to corresponding confidentiality measures. All three limbs have to be proved.

China Legal Portal Editorial•Information only — not legal advice

Use the decision screen →Choose a research route

Direct answer

A China trade secret is secret, valuable, and actually protected — not merely labelled confidential.

AUCL Article 9 protects technical and business information that (1) is not known to the public, (2) has commercial value, and (3) the right holder has taken corresponding confidentiality measures to keep secret. A stamp that says ‘confidential’ is not enough if files sit on an open WeCom group. Employees, former staff, suppliers and hackers can all be respondents. Civil, administrative and criminal tracks exist; they need different evidence.

The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

Is the information actually not public?

Published patents, product reverse-engineering that is easy, and industry know-how fail this limb.

Secrecy

Does it have commercial value?

Customer lists, source, process parameters and bidding models usually do; trivia does not.

Value

Were corresponding measures real?

Access control, marking, NDAs/NNN, and exit return — contemporaneous, not after the leak.

Measures

Which track fits the harm?

Civil injunction, SAMR, or criminal referral are different files.

Track

Working rule: AUCL Article 9 protects technical and business information that (1) is not known to the public, (2) has commercial value, and (3) the right holder has taken corresponding confidentiality measures to keep secret.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal

Ask the operating question

Why it changes the route

Label only

Was the only ‘measure’ a footer that says confidential?

Courts look for corresponding measures, not vocabulary.

Already public

Did you patent the same process, or sell the machine without NDA?

Public information is not a trade secret.

Wrong respondent

Is the copier an employee, a factory, or a later competitor with no contract?

AUCL still applies, but the evidence path changes.

Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Secret identificationWhat exactly is claimed, in a list you can show a court.

02Measures fileAccess logs, marking, NDA/NNN, handbook and exit certificates.

03Value fileWhy the information gives a competitive edge.

04Misappropriation tracesWho accessed, copied, used or disclosed, and when.

Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Is a customer list automatically a trade secret?

No. It must be non-public, valuable, and protected. See the customer-list Quick Answer.

Do we need a registration?

No CNIPA registration creates a trade secret. Measures and proof do. Patents and trademarks are the opposite model.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

National laws database (NPC)

Anti-Unfair Competition Law (gov.cn)

SAMR

Supreme People’s Court

Research shelf

Choose the next resource for your issue.

Use these routes to test secrecy, commercial value and reasonable measures separately, then connect the defined secret to acquisition, use or disclosure by the defendant.

01 · Core research route

NNN & Trade Secrets

Use this for NNN, measures and factory leaks.

Open secrets route →

02 · Related route

Trade Secrets & Employee IP

Use this when staff or leavers are the risk.

Open employee-IP route →03 · Related route

IP Enforcement

Use this to pick civil, administrative or criminal enforcement.

Open enforcement route →

Keep this URL. Do not add what-is-a-trade-secret-under-chinese-law as a duplicate.

Decision escalation

When the route needs a fact-specific view.

Use this page to orient. Move to the Intellectual Property guide or qualified counsel when secrecy measures, filings or a live leak cannot be generalised.

Escalate when

A leak is live this weekPreserve devices and identify the secret before you send demand letters.

You never marked or locked filesRecalibrate: contract claims may still exist; AUCL trade-secret claims are weaker.

You want a criminal reportThe evidence bar is higher; use the criminal Quick Answer.

01Browse Intellectual Property counselFind trade-secret counsel who can define the protected information, test secrecy measures and plan civil, administrative or criminal action.→02Send a structured questionBring a precise secret description, ownership history, access and protection records, suspected conduct, recipients and preservation status.→

Educational information only — not legal advice. Rules and market practice may change; no attorney–client relationship is created through use of this page.