Trade Secrets: Cultural Sensitivities And Coke Cans

Trade secrets are an important aspect of intellectual property law, which is why we make a point of writing about them from time to time. Two recent news reports illustrate just how important they have become.

THE FT ARTICLE

There was an article in the Financial Times that dealt with certain Chinese organisations' theft of intellectual property, and how America is struggling to counter this.

The stats

The article makes the startling point that "about 80% of economic espionage prosecutions brought by the US Department of Justice allege conduct that would benefit the Chinese state." The article goes on to say that a 2017 estimate put the cost of stolen trade secrets, pirated software and counterfeiting by Chinese organisations at between USD225 and USD600-billion per year.