Grassroots lawyers also have spring

Chapter 501 Do you want to charge some consulting fees!

"Lawyer Wang, have you ever done any cases in this area?" Mr. Zhao asked suddenly.

"I have done several cases of infringement of trade secrets, and compared with other types of civil cases, there are relatively few cases of infringement of trade secrets.

Although I don't do much, I have studied a lot of domestic cases in recent years.

When I went to study in the International Labor Organization a few years ago, I also discussed cases in this area with my foreign counterparts.So I know a little bit about the identification of trade secrets. "Wang Chuan was very modest, but his subtext contained a lot of content, and it was easy for the other party to think about it.

Strictly speaking, trade secrets belong to the category of intellectual property rights.Intellectual property rights, especially patents, are kept strictly confidential before application. Once they are known to the public, the application for patents will not be licensed, and even the commercial value will be directly reduced to zero, and the huge research and development expenses previously spent will be wasted.Therefore, a large enterprise like Huawei, which has invested a huge amount of money in research and development, spends a huge amount of money on the protection of trade secrets every year.

Although the protection of trade secrets is not in the field of labor law (it belongs to the field of anti-unfair competition), five of the cases that Wang Chuan has undertaken before are cases in which company executives violated the company’s trade secrets. However, it is difficult to provide evidence for such cases. They were all dealt with in violation of the non-compete agreement by employees. Later, he also studied and researched such cases.

In detail, the non-compete agreement between the company and its employees essentially exists as a system to protect the company's business secrets, and the protection of business secrets is the basis for the existence of the non-competition system.But non-competition exists independently of trade secrets. (It's a bit too theoretical, book friends who don't understand can just ignore it)
When defending rights in cases of infringement of trade secrets, the company can directly go to the court to sue, and such cases are infringement cases.However, employees who violate non-compete (or non-compete) agreements fall under the scope of the labor law and require labor arbitration beforehand, and cannot directly go to court to sue.

The litigation costs of the two are also different. The litigation fees charged by the court for trade secret infringement cases are determined based on the amount of compensation claimed by the plaintiff, while the liability for breach of contract in violation of the non-compete agreement is based on the standards of labor cases. Litigation fees are charged (labor arbitration is free, and court fees are only [-] yuan).

There is a huge gap in the litigation costs of the above two types of cases, and naturally the amount of compensation obtained cannot be the same.Once a trade secret infringement case is supported by the court, the compensation will generally be very high. In some cases, the compensation amount is simply astronomical in the eyes of ordinary people.

Infringement of trade secrets may not only be prosecuted for civil and administrative responsibilities, but may also constitute the crime of infringing trade secrets and be prosecuted for criminal responsibility.It can be seen that the punishment in such cases is severe.

On the other hand, in cases of non-competition violations, in judicial practice, the amount of liquidated damages agreed in the contract between the two parties is often used as the standard for judgment. If the amount of compensation is too high, the judge has the discretion to adjust it upon the application of the other party.The amount of compensation awarded by the referee is much lower than that in cases of infringement of trade secrets.

"Oh, this kind of case sounds quite complicated, and it's also very professional!" Mr. Huang frowned, and then asked, "Lawyer Wang, you see, our case is already like this. How can we solve it later? .”

"Does your subsidiary have an "Employee Handbook"? Has the other party signed a confidentiality contract, non-competition contract and other documents." Wang Chuan asked.

"Yes, our subsidiaries in Chongqing all use our documents." Mr. Zhao said.

"I suggest that your company read the terms of termination of labor relations in the "Employee Handbook" and the non-competition clauses in the confidentiality contract and non-competition contract.

If your company's above-mentioned documents prohibit employees and their relatives from starting a company that constitutes a competitive relationship with the company, you can use this as a basis to terminate the labor relationship and not pay economic compensation. "Wang Chuan said.

"Lawyer Wang, please wait a moment. I'll get the documents here, and you can look at them for us." Mr. Zhao got up and walked outside the meeting room.

Hehe, why do you still have to consult legal issues when talking about a legal consultant? Do you want to charge some consulting fees!Wang Chuan was thinking about it.

When Mr. Zhao went to pick up the documents, Mr. Huang looked at Wang Chuan and asked, "Lawyer Wang, I have a friend who was arrested a while ago. Do you want to do criminal cases?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Huang. I don't specialize in surgery, but our team has lawyer Wan, who specializes in criminal cases. If your friend needs me, I can introduce lawyer Wan to you." Wang Chuan said.

"Okay! Give me his phone number. I'll ask my friend to contact him later." Mr. Huang smiled.

While the two were talking, Mr. Zhao came back with the document: "Lawyer Wang, please take a look." After speaking, Mr. Zhao handed the document to Wang Chuan.

Ten minutes later, Wang Chuan opened the "Employee Handbook" and pushed it in front of Mr. Huang and Mr. Zhao.

"Bosses, please read Article [-] of the "Employee Handbook", the termination of the labor contract. This provision:...An employee who has any of the following circumstances is considered a serious violation of company discipline, and the company has the right to terminate the labor contract. without the company’s permission, working part-time outside the company or engaging in business that competes with the company’s business, or setting up and operating a company in the name of a relative, which conflicts with the company’s interests… ..."

I think your company can use this clause as an excuse to send a notice to the other party to terminate the labor relationship and request the termination of the labor relationship.But the premise is that the sales director approves the "Employee Handbook", and our company can provide evidence to prove that the company has disclosed the handbook to him. "Wang Chuan said.

"The Chongqing Subsidiary has only a dozen salespeople, and they have all signed the "Employee Handbook" and have a record of receiving the "Employee Handbook". Does this count as a public notice?" Mr. Zhao said.

"Yes. Both the signature record and the receipt record can be used as evidence." Wang Chuan said.

"The terms say: 'Set up a business company in the name of a relative'. Do we need to prove this? Whether the company was set up by his wife himself or under his behest, we can't prove it!" Mr. Huang said.

"There is no need to prove this, and there is no way to prove it. But don't forget that the other party is a husband and wife relationship. They are a family in themselves, and their property is also shared. His wife started a company to benefit the family. Their husband and wife are a community of interests, and they are divided. Not open." Wang Chuan said.

"Lawyer Wang, I've been worried about this issue before, but now I understand after you explain it this way." Mr. Huang felt a little enlightened, and asked after a while: "If we ask you to be a legal consultant, your firm's How are legal counsel fees charged?"

(End of this chapter)