In
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, on June 15, 1991, an amendment to the
Unfair Competition Prevention Law (Law No. 47, May 19, 1993) came into effect to include measures for the protection of qualified secret "technical or business information". The Unfair Competition Prevention Law was amended in recognition of the increasing importance of
trade secret
A trade secret is a form of intellectual property (IP) comprising confidential information that is not generally known or readily ascertainable, derives economic value from its secrecy, and is protected by reasonable efforts to maintain its conf ...
s in industrial society and, the recent strong international demand for harmonization of intellectual property laws. Prior to the amendments, there was no statute which directly protected trade secrets, although they were protected to some extent under general laws such as
contract
A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...
and
tort law
A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with crime ...
.
2003 amendments brought the establishment of criminal sanction for misappropriation of trade secrets.
2004 amendments provided that the protective order be granted in an action relating to trade secrets. Under a disclosure principle of litigation prescribed by Article 82 of the
Japanese Constitution
The Constitution of Japan is the supreme law of Japan. Written primarily by American civilian officials during the occupation of Japan after World War II, it was adopted on 3 November 1946 and came into effect on 3 May 1947, succeeding the Mei ...
, maintaining the confidentiality of any
evidence
Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...
regarding confidential information submitted to the court had been one of the major challenges under the practice of public trials.
Influences
Limitation in the economic development
[{{Cite journal, last1=Friedman, first1=David D, last2=Landes, first2=William M, last3=Posner, first3=Richard A, date=February 1991, title=Some Economics of Trade Secret Law, journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives, volume=5, issue=1, pages=61–72, doi=10.1257/jep.5.1.61, issn=0895-3309, doi-access=free]
See also
*
Trade policy of Japan
References
Japanese intellectual property law
Trade secrets