Zhang Xiaoling, deputy to the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress: A blacklist of seriously untrustworthy talents in the field of intellectual property should be established

During the two sessions of guangdong province in 2022, Zhang Xiaoling, deputy to the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress and secretary of the party branch of Songde Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., suggested that Guangdong should establish and improve the trade secret protection mechanism and further increase the investigation and punishment of trade secret infringement.

Zhang Xiaoling, a deputy to the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress. Courtesy of the correspondent

Zhang Xiaoling introduced that enterprises have the most sensitive sense of smell for fairness, and she learned from the provincial market supervision work conference held not long ago that the Guangdong Intellectual Property Comprehensive Development Index ranked first in the country for 9 consecutive years, and the total number of market entities in the province exceeded 15 million households, which shows the heritage and contribution of Guangdong as a large province of innovation and a strong province of intellectual property rights.

Talent and innovation are fundamental to the development of enterprises. Among them, trade secrets are the most core and most competitive intangible wealth of enterprises, and they are the "foundation of life" of innovative subjects.

In recent years, the loss of professional talents has become a major problem plaguing enterprises, which has a great impact on corporate revenue, team morale and future research and development. Whether or not infringement can be cracked down on in accordance with the law and legitimate rights and interests can be effectively protected is related to the development of enterprises, and it is also related to the confidence of enterprises in the rule of law environment and the stimulation of innovation momentum.

In recent years, China has continued to increase its efforts in legislation, judiciary and law enforcement to protect enterprise trade secrets. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has twice amended the Anti-Unfair Competition Law to further increase punitive damages and administrative penalties for infringement of trade secrets on the basis of clarifying the definition of trade secrets.

In September 2020, the Supreme People's Court issued special provisions for civil cases of infringement of trade secrets, providing professional and standardized guidelines for the trial of relevant cases, and sending a strong signal to maintain the order of fair competition in the market.

At the same time, Zhang Xiaoling noted that in recent years, Guangdong courts have comprehensively strengthened the judicial protection of intellectual property rights by increasing the intensity of punitive damages, exploring prior judgments and property preservation in litigation, etc., and the total number of intellectual property cases heard accounts for one-third of the country.

In terms of increasing the protection of intellectual property rights, especially trade secrets, Zhang Xiaoling has four suggestions:

The first is to establish and improve the mechanism for protecting trade secrets, and further increase the investigation and punishment of infringement of trade secrets.

The second is to establish a "blacklist" of seriously untrustworthy talents in the field of intellectual property rights in view of the frequent occurrence of enterprise employees such as job hopping and leaking secrets, and further reduce the innovation risks and rights protection costs of rights holders through joint disciplinary action and coordinated protection.

The third is to help enterprises improve their awareness of risk prevention and improve the internal protection mechanism of trade secrets by publishing typical cases and carrying out legal popularization activities, so as to escort the development of innovation.

The fourth is to introduce corresponding incentive policies, so that protection and incentives can become a "two-wheeled carriage" to promote innovation and development, and effectively create a new highland for innovation and protection of the rule of law.