In
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, 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
Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily asc ...
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 a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
and
tort law
A tort is a civil wrong 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 criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
.
2003 amendments brought the establishment of criminal sanction for misappropriation of trade secr
ets.
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 (Shinjitai: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn: ) is the constitution of Japan and the supreme law in the state. Written primarily by American civilian officials working under the Allied occupation of Japan, the constitution r ...
, maintaining the confidentiality of any
evidence
Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field.
In epistemology, evidenc ...
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, last=Friedman, first=David D, last2=Landes, first2=William M, last3=Posner, first3=Richard A, date=February 1991, title=Some Economics of Trade Secret Law, url=http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jep.5.1.61, 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
The trade policy of Japan related to Japan's approach to import and export with other countries.
Export policies
For many years, export promotion was a large issue in Japanese government policy. Government officials recognized that Japan needed ...
References
Japanese intellectual property law
Trade secrets