萬國法律事務所

Individuals found guilty of corporate espionage could be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 10 years and fined NT$ 50 million according to the draft of Taiwan's Trade Secrets Act.

Recently, many overseas companies have allegedly been involved in malicious poaching of employees from domestic companies. Some former employees have stolen or disclosed trade secrets of the companies where they originally were employed. For instance, high-ranking managers at AU Optronics Corporation in Taiwan were targeted by so-called head-hunters and enticed to join companies in China, and are believed to have disclosed certain of AU Optronics Corporation's trade secrets to their new Chinese employers. This example and the current trend indicates that Taiwan's Trade Secret Act is not effective and is too narrow in applicable scope. In light of this situation, the Economic Committee of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan has passed a draft set of amendments which aim to partially revise the Trade Secrets Act.

According to the new draft, the fine for disclosing trade secrets within Taiwan will increase from the current range of NT$ 50 thousand to NT$ 10 million to a range of NT$1 million to NT$ 50 million. Additionally, disclosure of trade secrets may subject the guilty defendant to imprisonment for not less than 1 year but not more than 10 years.

The new draft added the concept of extraterritoriality as an aggravating circumstance to deal with corporate espionage committed outside of Taiwan. Moreover, in order to help maintain Taiwan's international competitiveness, investigation and prosecution of the crime of corporate espionage committed outside of Taiwan need not be instituted only upon complaint, and the fine imposed on guilty defendants will be 10 times the amount of the unlawful gain obtained by virtue of the crime.

The new draft is expected to come into force this year.