Secretly awarded 159 million yuan for the theft of vanillin technology

The highest amount of compensation in history for infringement of trade secrets [secret judgment of 159 million yuan for theft of vanillin technology] On the morning of February 26, the highest amount of compensation awarded by the people's courts in the history of trade secret infringement came to an end. The Supreme People's Court pronounced judgment on the appeal case of Jiaxing Zhonghua Chemical Co., Ltd. and Wang Long Group Co., Ltd. and others for infringement of technical secrets, and ordered Wang Long Group Company and others to compensate the technical secret rights holders for 159 million yuan. "Vanillin" is a widely used fragrance in the world, Jiaxing Zhonghua Chemical Co., Ltd. was once the world's largest manufacturer of vanillin, accounting for about 60% of the global vanillin market share. In 2010, Fu Xianggen, a former employee and defendant of the company, leaked the technical secret of "vanillin" after receiving remuneration from Wanglong Group Company. Since June 2011, WangLong Technology Company has begun to produce vanillin, becoming the world's third largest vanillin manufacturer in a short period of time. In 2018, the Zhejiang Provincial Higher People's Court found in the first instance that Wang Long Group Company and Wang Long Technology Company constituted infringement of some of the technical secrets involved in the case, and ordered them to stop the infringement, compensate for economic losses of 3 million yuan and reasonable rights protection costs of 500,000 yuan. In the second instance, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court revoked the first-instance judgment and changed the judgment to the infringers to jointly compensate the technical secret rights holders for 159 million yuan (including reasonable rights protection costs of 3.49 million yuan). Because the circumstances of the infringement of technical secrets involved in the case are heinous and the consequences are serious, and may be suspected of criminal offenses, the Supreme People's Court shall transfer the relevant suspected criminal clue materials to the public security department for handling in accordance with law. (Guangming Daily all-media reporter Jin Hao photography Zhou Rongrong)

Source: Guangming Daily