Anti-Unfair Competition law in China regarding the infringement of trade secrets

One important note, only the acquire the trade secret itself may constitute the violation of the anti-unfair competition law. No matter you benefit from the trade secret or incur any loss to right hoder of the trade secret.

Bear this in mind!!

Certain Provisions on Prohibition of Infringement of Trade Secrets

The following acts of infringement of trade secret shall be prohibited:
(1) Obtaining a right owner's trade secret by theft, luring by promise of gain, duress, or any other unfair means;
(2) Disclosing, using, or allowing another to use a right owner's trade secret obtained by any of the means as set forth in the preceding item;
(3) An organization or individual that has business relations with the right owner violates the agreement of their contract or the right owner's requirement to keep the trade secret confidential by disclosing, using, or allowing another to use a right owner's trade secret in the organization's or the individual's possession; and
(4) Any employee of a right owner violates the agreement of their contract or the right owner's requirement to keep the trade secret confidential by disclosing, using, or allowing another to use the right owner's trade secret that is in the employee's possession.
Where a third party that is aware or should be aware of the illegal acts specified in the preceding paragraph obtains, uses, or discloses another's trade secret, the third party shall be deemed as having infringed the trade secret. Article 3 Certain Provisions on Prohibition of Infringement of Trade Secrets

Anti-Unfair Competition law in China regarding the infringement of trade secrets

[Law Excerpt]

No business operator may infringe any trade secret by any of the following means:
(1) Obtaining a right owner's trade secret by theft, luring by promise of gain, duress, or any other unfair means;
(2) Disclosing, using, or permitting others to use a right owner's trade secret that was obtained by any of the means set forth in the preceding item; or
(3) Disclosing, using, or permitting others to use a right owner's trade secret in that operator's possession, thus violating an agreement or the right owner's requirement to keep the trade secret confidential.
Where a third party obtains, uses, or discloses another's trade secret under the circumstance where the third party clearly knows or should know of the existence of any such illegal act as specified in the preceding paragraph, the third party shall be deemed to have infringed the trade secret. Article 10 Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China

requirement for a valid arbitration agreement in China

In accordance with  article 16 of the Chinese Arbitration Law,  An arbitration agreement shall include the following content:
(1) Manifestation of the intention to request arbitration;
(2) Arbitrable matters; and
(3) Selected arbitration commission.

Article 18    Where an arbitration agreement includes no clause on arbitrable matters or includes only an inexplicit one therein, the parties may reach a supplementary agreement. Failure to reach such a supplementary agreement shall render the arbitration agreement invalid.

In order to keep abreat of the commonly accepted internaiontal norms of the morden arbitration,  the Supreme People's Court pronounced a lot of interpretations to interpret the application of the Arbitration Law. The most important one is the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Certain Issues Concerning the Application of the "Arbitration Law of the People's Republic of China". 
Article 3    If the name of the arbitration institution agreed upon in an arbitration agreement is not described in an accurate way, but the specific arbitration institution is determinable, it shall be deemed that the arbitration institution has been selected.

    

  Article 4    Where an arbitration agreement only includes the arbitration rules applicable for the dispute at issue, the parties concerned shall be deemed not to have agreed upon the arbitration institution, unless the parties have reached a supplementary agreement or the arbitration institution can be identified through their agreed-upon arbitration rules.

     

  Article 5    If two or more arbitration institutions are agreed upon in an arbitration agreement, the parties concerned may select, by agreement, one of these arbitration institutions to which they will apply for arbitration. If the parties fail to reach an agreement on the arbitration institution, the arbitration agreement shall be deemed invalid.

  

  Article 6    If an arbitration agreement states that arbitration shall be conducted by an arbitration institution at a certain place, and there is only one arbitration institution in that place, such arbitration institution shall be deemed the agreed-upon arbitration institution. If two or more arbitration institutions exist in that place, the parties concerned may select, by agreement, one of these arbitration institutions to which they will apply for arbitration. If the parties fail to reach an agreement on the arbitration institution, the arbitration agreement shall be deemed invalid.

 

Therefore, by these interpretations, the validity of the arbitration agreement is easy to stand!

Three kinds of arbitral awards in China

There are three kinds of arbitral awards according to the Chinese Arbitration Law. They are domestic arbitration, international arbitration and foreign arbitration. The criterion among the three arbitrations is the nature of the dispute. The domestic arbitration is case without a foreign element and is held in China. The international arbitration is a case involved a foreign element and is held in China. According to the Article 304, Supreme Court, Several Opinions on the Application of the Civil Procedural Law(1992), a dispute involves a foreign element if: (i) one or both of the parties is a foreign national or a stateless person, or a company or organization domiciled in a foreign country; (ii) the legal facts establishing, changing or terminating the civil law relationship between the parties occurred in a foreign country; or (iii) the subject of dispute is situated in a foreign country.  Foreign arbitration means the arbitration is held outside of Mainland China. There are different rules regulating three kinds of arbitrations/ arbitral awards.