The Principle Of Inevitable Disclosure Of Trade Secret Protection Law

As a unique legal system for the protecting of trade secrets in the United States, the Doctrine of the Inevitable Disclosure plays an essential role in protecting trade secrets concerning the more and more common job-hopping phenomenon. Under the doctrine, courts shall believe that inevitable disclosure and threatened misappropriation of trade secrets exist and can thus enjoin the ex-employee from working for the head-to-head competitor of the ex-employer basing on some evidence like the direct competitive relationship between the former and the new employers and the similarity of the employee' s former and new positions. Since its birth in 1902, the doctrine becomes more and more mature and popular through courts' broad application. On the one hand, trade secrets protection is very necessary in order to maintain fair competition ethics and promote innovation. On the other hand, the doctrine has also brought up huge controversies that even in the United States, some states are still strongly against it because of those unreasonable factors under the system which challenge the employee mobility and fair competition. Up till now, the doctrine has not been set up yet in the Chinese legal system and the production of research about the doctrine is very little in China. In the new times of knowledge economy, technology has been developed rapidly and the mobility of people has grown. Therefore, it is of great practical importance to study and research the doctrine.The first chapter of this dissertation, beginning with the introduction of some typical cases about the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine and going on with the analysis of the US relevant regulations, presents a clear picture of the characteristics and rules of the doctrine. In the second chapter, four defining elements which are generally...