Recent Developments In Relation To The Protection Of Trade Secrets In Singapore

This is the 12th in a series of articles written by members of our International Trade Secrets Group, highlighting points of note regarding the protection of Trade Secrets in various jurisdictions.

In this article we move to Singapore to look at some developments in the law of trade secrets there. In Singapore, there is no express legislation for the protection of trade secrets per se. Instead, protection of trade secrets in Singapore is typically through the common law doctrine of breach of confidence, as well as (where applicable) the use of IP and contract law. This article focuses specifically on the common law doctrine of breach of confidence.

Of particular note is a recent decision by the Singapore Court of Appeal ("CA"), the Apex Court in Singapore, in April 2020, I-Admin (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Hong Ying Ting and others ("I-Admin") which introduced a modified approach for breach of confidence claims, departing from what has been the approach previously