Summary of Trade Secret Act B.E 2545

Trade Secret Act B.E 2545 (the "Act") was published in the Government Gazzette on April 23, 2002 and shall come into force on July 22, 2002. The Act is deemed to be a law concerning an intellectual property. Therefore, the rights of the owner of a trade secret should be protected.

1. Protection

1.1 The trading or sharing of information not publicly known or accessible by persons who should not normally be involved with such information.
"Trade Information" means anything that conveys the meaning of statement, matters of fact, or anything, irrespective of its method and form, including formulas, patterns, compiled or assembled work, programs, methods, techniques, or processes.

"Trade Secret" is classified as follows;

Industrial Trade Secret

Commercial Trade Secret

2. Information beneficial to commerce as a result of its being secret

3. Information maintained by a trade secret controller by way of a proper measure such as keeping a record relating to trading transactions in a safe, arranging security measures, entering into an Agreement to keep secret confidential, or arranging a security code. Further, a trade secret controller who is not an owner of the trade secret such as a licensee for accessing the trade secret, a contractor to produce goods is required by laws to keep the trade secret with a proper measures.

3.1 A person beneficial to this Act

Trade secret owner means the person who discovered, researched, compiled, or created the trade secret information.

Trade secret controller means trade secret owner, and shall also include the possessor, controller, or caretaker of the trade secret.

3.2 Acquisition of rights

The protection of the trade secret shall continue so long as it is treated as a secret.

Trade secret shall be protected without any registration

3.3 Right of trade secret owner (Section 5)

A trade secret owner has the right to disclose, take away, or use the trade secret, as well as to permit other person to disclose, take away, or use the trade secret. The trade secret owner may also stipulate any terms and conditions for keeping their trade secrets confidential.

3.4 Infringement of trade secret rights

Infringement of trade secret rights include the following : The act of disclosing, taking away, or using the Trade Secret without consent from the Trade Secret Owner, which is contrary to good faith commercial practice, provided that such persons must know or there are grounds that such person should have known that such action is contrary to the practice in this Trade Secret Act.

3.5 Exception of Infringement on trade secret

Disclosure or use of a Trade Secret by a person who, while performing his juristic duties obtained a Trade Secret without knowing it was a Trade Secret, or from another party who himself obtained the Trade Secret through infringement of the right to Trade Secrets of other persons.

Disclosure or use of a Trade Secret by any government agency who takes care of such Trade Secrets to protect the health or safety of the public.

Free discovery, which is the discovery of Trade Secrets of other persons by means of invention or development with the knowledge and expertise of the discoverer, or

Re-engineering, which is the discovery of a Trade Secret of another person by means of evaluation and analysis of a product that is publicly known, with the intention to understand the method in which such a product is invented, produced, or developed, provided that the person who assesses and analyzes the product obtained such in good faith.

3.6 Right to bring an action to the court

The Act gives right to the trade secret controller to bring a lawsuit against a person infringing or being infringe the right of the owner on the trade secret. The trade secret controller may request to the court to order such person to temporarily stop or suspend the infringement and/or destroy or confiscate equipment or tools used for committing the infringement.

However, the trade secret controller may negotiate, settle, or compromise with the other party before the committee prior to the date of requesting the court or of bringing a lawsuit against the other party.

3.7 Preservation of Trade Secrets by a Government Entity

The government entity has the responsibility to preserve and prevent the trade secret from being disclosed, taken away, or unfairly used for commercial purposes according to the regulations prescribed by the Minister.