The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently launched the WIPO Lex Trade Secrets Case Law Collection, which includes 13 judgments rendered by Chinese courts, placing China alongside the United States with the largest number of entries in the database.

According to the WIPO, among various forms of intellectual property, trade secrets have become a key area for protecting valuable information and maintaining competitive advantage. The new database, jointly developed by the WIPO Patent and Technology Law Division and the WIPO Judicial Institute, brings together landmark judicial decisions from multiple jurisdictions to address global interest in trade secret protection and the role of courts in interpreting and enforcing related laws.

The database currently contains 66 judgments from nine countries. China and the United States each account for 13 cases, followed by India with 12, Germany with 11, the Republic of Korea and Italy with five each, Brazil with four, the United Kingdom with two, and Tanzania with one.

The 13 Chinese judgments stem from a number of representative trade secret cases adjudicated by the Intellectual Property Court of China's Supreme People's Court (SPC), and courts in Henan, Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces, as well as Shanghai. The cases cover a broad range of sectors such as biopharmaceuticals, chemical materials, automotive technology, online gaming, and intelligent algorithms, reflecting Chinese courts' continued efforts to strengthen judicial protection of trade secrets across a wide range of industries.

The SPC will continue to strengthen communication and cooperation with the WIPO and other international organizations, and further improve mechanisms for regularly recommending representative intellectual property cases and judgments. It will also continue monitoring global developments in trade secret jurisprudence to better support high-quality development and high-level opening-up of the country.