Recently, a college student filmed a short video containing the company name and logo without authorization during his summer study at CITIC Securities , which attracted attention. CITIC Construction Investment What is the response to this? What consequences will the interns bear for leaking secrets? What behaviors may infringe on trade secrets? A quick look at this article.
Why did the video involved attract attention? What is CITIC Construction Investment’s response?
According to media reports, the video showed that the student used his mobile phone to record him driving a Beijing-brand Porsche sports car to and from get off work, and it also revealed that CITIC Construction Investment was driving The IPO projects we are working on, including customer information and regulatory confirmation letters, are all put in the short video one by one. Many netizens questioned CITIC Construction Investment’s negligence in compliance and risk control. According to the video posted by the student, a total of three customer information of CITIC Construction Investment appeared. Among them, two IPO companies, both sponsored by CITIC Construction Investment, are in the critical stage of listing.
Internet content. Video screenshot/Jimu News
In response to this matter, CITIC Construction Investment and Huazhong University of Science and Technology responded.
CITIC Construction Investment twice responded to the "intern video controversy"
html On July 26, CITIC Securities responded to the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter that the video content involved sensitive information about the company's customers and violated the company's compliance management regulations. At present, the company has ordered the student to terminate his studies and initiated accountability procedures for the relevant responsible persons in accordance with the company's relevant regulations. Details >>> html On the evening of July 27, CITIC Construction Investment once again spoke out through its official WeChat public account. After verification, the student is a freshman at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His father is a non-public official and has never worked in the financial regulatory department. After investigation, it was found that the person in charge of the investment banking team of the company's research department had illegally introduced the student into the company. The company has removed the person in charge and will seriously hold the person in charge of the investment banking department accountable. Details>>>Huazhong University of Science and Technology: Further verification of the identity of the students involved
After the incident triggered public opinion, some netizens claimed that the student in the video was Wang Mouchu, a student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. On July 26, some media called the School of Physical Education of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. An operator responded that there is indeed a student with that name in the college. The student is a member of the school's high-level martial arts team. His student status is affiliated with the school's School of Public Administration, and is currently in 2023. grade student.
As for whether this student is the male student studying at CITIC Construction Investment in the video, the above-mentioned school staff said: "The students may have gone to practice during the summer, but the practice is not uniformly arranged by the school, so they do not have specific information." This staff member It said it would further verify whether the student was the student involved in the online scandal.
What are the consequences for interns who leak secrets? Lawyer interpretation
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What legal liability does a student have to bear if he leaks company secrets during his internship? Do companies and schools also need to be held responsible?
Fu Jian, director of Henan Zejin Law Firm, believes that CITIC As a listed company, Jiantou has strict confidentiality requirements. If customer information is leaked due to internal management problems and its reputation is damaged, it will bring certain losses to the listed company. According to relevant laws and regulations, if the leaked information causes the customer to suffer economic losses, the customer has the right to request compensation from CITIC Construction Investment; if the leaked information involves illegal activities such as trade secrets, CITIC Construction Investment may also face administrative penalties or criminal liability.
Fu Jian said that the incident reflected the serious lack of confidentiality awareness of the interns, and also exposed the obvious deficiencies of CSC Securities in terms of intern management and risk control. From a legal perspective, whether an intern needs to bear legal responsibility depends on whether he or she has violated the confidentiality agreement signed with the company. If confidentiality obligations are clearly stipulated in the internship contract, and the intern knows the harmfulness of leaking the information, he or she will need to bear corresponding legal responsibilities, including but not limited to civil compensation and possible administrative or criminal liability.
Fu Jian pointed out that the incident also involves the legal liability of the intern’s managers (including company managers and school-related personnel). If managers are negligent in supervising interns and cause interns to leak information, they will also need to bear corresponding legal responsibilities.
What behaviors may infringe on trade secrets?
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Every enterprise has its own unique business information and technical information, which is called trade secrets. Confidentiality, value and confidentiality are the three basic characteristics of business secrets.
The leakage of trade secrets is a common type of trade secret infringement. The main ways in which trade secrets are leaked include: leaking trade secrets due to the flow of key talents; leaking trade secrets while working part-time; leaking corporate trade secrets when retired employees are hired by other personnel or other units; leaking trade secrets due to employees' weak concept of confidentiality; introducing the company's own experience, reception Leaking trade secrets during visits, etc.; publishing academic papers and leaking trade secrets; employees who possess trade secrets leaking trade secrets for personal gain or anger; negligence in accepting interviews, visits, inspections, and internships with outsiders; leaks by bona fide third parties; occurrences Accidents lead to disclosure of trade secrets.
's behavior of leaking and infringing on trade secrets not only violates the confidentiality obligations of the contract, but also constitutes a crime.
Article 9 of the "Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates that operators shall not commit the following acts of infringement of trade secrets:
(1) Obtain rights holders through theft, bribery, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion or other improper means
(2) Disclose, use or allow others to use the right holder’s trade secrets obtained by means of the previous paragraph;
(3) Violate confidentiality obligations or violate the right holder’s requirements for keeping business secrets, disclose, use or allow others to Use the trade secrets in his possession;
(4) Instigate, induce, or help others to violate confidentiality obligations or violate the obligee's requirements for keeping trade secrets, and obtain, disclose, use, or allow others to use the obligee's trade secrets. Any natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization other than
operators who commits the illegal acts listed in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to have infringed upon business secrets.
If a third party knows or should know that the employees, former employees or other units or individuals of the right holder of a trade secret have committed illegal acts listed in paragraph 1 of this article, but still obtains, discloses, uses or allows others to use the trade secret, it shall be deemed as infringement. Trade secrets.
What legal liability does one need to bear for infringement of trade secrets?
Infringement of trade secrets will not only cause direct or indirect economic losses to the owner of the trade secret, but also cause great damage to the entire market competition environment and social and economic order. The responsibilities that should bear for infringement of trade secrets include: civil liability, administrative liability and criminal liability.
1. Civil liability
Generally speaking, if the infringement of a trade secret causes losses to the right holder, the infringer must bear civil liability to compensate for the losses.
Legal basis
"Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" Article 501: Business secrets or other information that should be kept confidential that the parties know in the process of entering into a contract shall not be disclosed or used improperly regardless of whether the contract is established; leaked or improperly used If the use of such trade secrets or information causes losses to the other party, the party shall be liable for compensation.
Article 17 of the "Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China" If an operator violates the provisions of this law and causes damage to others, he shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law. If the legitimate rights and interests of
operators are harmed by unfair competition, they may file a lawsuit with the People's Court.
The amount of compensation for an operator who is harmed by unfair competition shall be determined based on the actual losses suffered by the operator due to the infringement; if the actual losses are difficult to calculate, the amount of compensation shall be determined based on the benefits obtained by the infringer due to the infringement. If an operator maliciously commits an infringement of trade secrets and the circumstances are serious, the amount of compensation may be determined to be not less than one time but not more than five times the amount determined according to the above method. The amount of compensation shall also include the reasonable expenses paid by the operator to stop the infringement. If it is difficult to determine the actual losses suffered by the right holder due to the infringement and the benefits obtained by the infringer due to the infringement, the people's court shall award the right holder a compensation of not more than five million yuan based on the circumstances of the infringement.
2. Administrative liability
If a trade secret is infringed, the right holder can complain to the industrial and commercial administration department. The relevant department will then impose fines and other penalties on the infringer based on the circumstances of the infringement of secrets. Administrative responsibilities include stopping infringements, fines, and confiscation of illegal gains.
Legal Basis
Article 21 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates: “If operators and other natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organizations violate the provisions of Article 9 of this Law and infringe commercial secrets, they shall be ordered by the supervision and inspection department. Stop illegal activities, confiscate illegal gains, and impose a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 1 million yuan; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 500,000 yuan but not more than 5 million yuan may be imposed. "
3. Criminal liability
If business secrets are leaked. If the right holder suffers serious losses, he or she will need to bear criminal liability depending on the specific circumstances. Anyone who infringes upon a trade secret and causes heavy losses to the owner of the trade secret shall bear criminal liability and may be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention or a fine.
Legal Basis
Article 219 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that anyone who infringes on business secrets, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, and shall also be fined, or shall be fined alone; if the circumstances are particularly serious, he shall be sentenced to more than three years. A prison term of not more than ten years and a fine.
Source of data: Jiangxi Politics and Law, Chancheng Procuratorate, Nansha Intellectual Property Public Account, Beijing News, Jimu News, Xiaoxiang Morning News, etc.
Editor Ai Zheng Proofreading Zhang Yanjun
