問1
頻出度★★★
営業秘密を保護する法律はどれか。
平成24年度 秋期 ITパスポート試験 問1
ストラテジ系法務 › 知的財産権
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
解説
問 1
Incorrectア
The Antimonopoly Act (Act on Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade) prohibits private monopolization, unreasonable restraint of trade (cartels and bid rigging), unfair trade practices, and the like, and its purpose is to maintain fair and free competition in the market. What it regulates is corporate conduct that distorts market competition; it contains no provisions on protecting the secret information a company holds. It is enforced by the Fair Trade Commission.
Incorrectイ
The Act on Specified Commercial Transactions is a consumer-protection law that targets transaction types where consumer trouble easily arises, such as door-to-door sales, mail-order sales, telemarketing sales, and multilevel marketing transactions. It obliges businesses to clearly state their name and other particulars and to deliver written documents, bans exaggerated advertising and improper solicitation, and grants a cooling-off right. What it protects is the consumer as the counterparty to a transaction, not a business's trade secrets.
Incorrectウ
The Unauthorized Computer Access Prohibition Act (Act on Prohibition of Unauthorized Computer Access) prohibits acts such as using another person's user ID or password without permission to break into an access-controlled information system over a network, as well as wrongfully obtaining, storing, or providing (facilitating the use of) identification codes for that purpose. What it bans is the act of unauthorized access itself; it has no mechanism for protecting the content of information as a trade secret. Even if secret information is stolen through unauthorized access, the law that protects that information itself as a trade secret and serves as the basis for an injunction or a damages claim is the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
- エ
正解 The correct answer is エ, the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. In order to secure fair competition among businesses, this act clearly positions infringement of trade secrets as an act of “unfair competition”, alongside acts such as causing confusion with another company's product indications or falsely indicating a place of origin. A trade secret here means information that satisfies all three of the following requirements: (1) it is managed as a secret (secrecy management), (2) it is technical or business information useful for production methods, sales methods, or other business activities (usefulness), and (3) it is not publicly known (non-public nature). Manufacturing know-how, design data, customer lists, and purchase price lists are typical examples. Unlike a patent, no application or registration is required; information becomes protected as long as it is managed so that these three requirements are met. Acquiring a trade secret by wrongful means such as theft, fraud, or unauthorized computer access, using or disclosing a trade secret so acquired, and a former employee taking one out for the purpose of wrongful gain or of causing damage all constitute unfair competition. The injured business can seek an injunction against the infringing act and claim damages, and in malicious cases criminal penalties are also imposed for the crime of trade secret infringement. Therefore, the law that protects trade secrets is エ.
ここがポイント
- The three requirements for a trade secret — information that satisfies secrecy management, usefulness, and non-public nature all at once becomes a trade secret under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, and it is protected without any application or registration. Against infringement there are, in addition to an injunction and a damages claim, criminal penalties for the crime of trade secret infringement.
- Distinguish confusable laws by the scope each one covers, using its purpose — the Antimonopoly Act maintains a fair competitive order, the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions protects consumers, the Unauthorized Computer Access Prohibition Act bans unauthorized access over a network, and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act protects trade secrets and regulates unfair competition such as causing confusion with product indications.
用語