Business under Threat: The Criminal Liability of Trade Secret Theft in Malaysia? International Journal of Business and Society, 21. pp. 49-65. ISSN 1511-6670 (2020)
Abstract
Maintaining and ensuring secrecy of valuabletradesecret offers competitive advantage to its owner over the
competing rival. Because of this, the trade secret is often subject to various threats ranging from
misappropriation, theft and corporate espionage launched by rivals and also the employee. Such threats can
impede growth of the victimized firms and discourage further innovative and inventive endeavor. One of the
ways to deter such offence is by providing specific criminal sanction for the theft of trade secret as practiced
in the US and Japan. The US regards theft of trade secrets as a federal crime under the Economic Espionage
Act 1996 and in Japan, theft of trade secret is a crime under the Unfair Competition Law. In comparison,
Malaysian law does not provide any specific legislation criminalizing theft of trade. But being a member of
the TTPA, Malaysia is required to criminalize such theft. This article analyzes the competency of the existing
criminal, cyber and national security laws in Malaysia to address the issue. In doing so, the practice of the US
and Japan is taken as example to shed light as to the proper implementation of criminal prosecution against
the theft of trade secret.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Trade secrets theft, Misappropriation of business information, Confidential information, Corporate espionage |
| Taxonomy: | By Subject > Business & Management > Management |
| Local Content Hub: | Subjects > Business & Management |
| Depositing User: | Muslim Ismail @ Ahmad |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Aug 2021 13:06 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2021 13:06 |
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