Legal Frameworks for Trade Secrets Protection: A Comparative Study of Definition, Infringement, and Defense in the United States, European Union, China, and Thailand
Keywords:
Trade Secrets, Infringement, DefenseAbstract
This paper explores the legal frameworks for trade secrets protection in the United States, European Union, China, and Thailand. Overall, trade secrets law in all selected frameworks revolves around confidentiality and economically valuable information against unauthorized use or disclosure. However, the approaches to achieving this protection vary across jurisdictions. The United States employs statutory protections through the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) and Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). The European Union tries to harmonize its laws through the Trade Secrets Directive but faces uniformity challenges among member states. China has progressively developed trade secrets protection and is considered to offer one of the strongest protections among selected jurisdictions. Thailand’s Trade Secrets Act demonstrates efforts to integrate global standards but struggles with ambiguities in interpretation and too strict requirements. This paper observes the historical development of the laws, the definition of trade secrets, infringement action, and available defenses or exceptions of each jurisdiction. These jurisdictions were chosen due to the strong and evolving nature of their legal framework as comparative models for Thailand. This comparative study also highlights key issues of trade secrets protection in each selected system to contribute to the broader understanding of global trade secrets protection and offer insights for improving Thailand’s trade secrets regime.
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