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Loi sur la laïcité de l’État : la Cour d’appel du Québec statue sur sa constitutionnalité
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Canada | Publication | May 15, 2020 - 3 PM ET
The new Criminal Code provisions are aimed at the intentional theft of trade secrets. Trade secrets are defined as any information that: (a) is not generally known in the trade or business that uses or may use that information; (b) has economic value from not being generally known; and (c) is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy (Article 391(5)).
Article 391 of the Criminal Code provides that:
Anyone convicted of these new offences (or related offences of conspiracy or attempt to commit or being an accessory after the fact in relation to the theft of a trade secret) can be punished either by way of an indictable offence (with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years), or by way of summary conviction (Article 391(3)).
Consistent with past law on trade secrets, ss. 391(4) provides a defence of independent development or reverse engineering.
These new offences for the theft of trade secrets are grounded in fraud. Traditionally, fraud requires a dishonest, deceitful, underhanded or unscrupulous act that puts at risk the deprivation of something belonging to someone else. Neither negligence nor the taking advantage of an opportunity to someone else's detriment are enough. While it is unclear whether the wrongful downloading of a customer list by a departing employee will meet this threshold, nevertheless these new offences should act as a powerful deterrent to the theft of trade secrets.
Companies who rely on trade secret protection should take steps to identify the information that they wish to protect as a trade secret and ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to maintain the secrecy of that information. While the metes and bounds of “reasonable” efforts is not prescribed in the Criminal Code, existing case law is informative – restricted access, password protection and written acknowledgements that the information is confidential.
Employers should take the opportunity to ensure that employment agreements and confidentiality policies make clear what employees are permitted and not permitted to do with confidential information belonging to the employer and ensure that employees are able to identify confidential information in the workplace that those restrictions apply to.
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