Geely Suing WM and Four Subsidiaries for Trade Secrets Infringement

Recently, it is reported that Zhejiang Geely Holding Group filed a lawsuit against WM Motor and its four subsidiaries for trade secrets infringement. The hearing will be held on September 16. The huge amount of object of litigation involved in the case may have a far-reaching impact on the the company’s survival and the industry as a whole.

In the Intellectual Property Protection by Chinese Courts (2018) published by the Supreme People’s Court at the beginning of this year, some representative cases were listed, among which this lawsuit filed in 2018 was pointed out. The paper stated that in the case of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. and others suing WM Motor Technology Group Co., Ltd. for infringement of trade secrets, the object of lawsuit has amounted to 2.1 billion Yuan.

Trade secrets are enterprises’ property rights, concerned with companies’ competitiveness, and vital to their development. Some of them will directly impact the companies’ survival. According to Article 9 of China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the following acts are unfair competition acts that infringe on the trade secrets of others: (1) obtaining trade secrets from the owners of rights by stealing, promising of gain, resorting to coercion or other improper means; (2) disclosing, using or allowing others to use trade secrets of the owners of rights obtained by the means mentioned in the preceding item; (3) disclosing, using or allowing others to use trade secrets that he has obtained by breaking an engagement or disregarding the requirement of the owners of the rights to maintain the trade secrets in confidence.

September 30, 2019

Source: China Intellectual Property Magazine

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