A China trade secret claim starts with identifiable information and records connecting it to protection, access and the challenged conduct. Calling an entire project “confidential,” producing an NDA or showing that an employee left does not automatically establish the claim. The practical task is to define what is said to be secret and explain how the available evidence supports each issue.
For global businesses and their advisers, this preparation should preserve the information's confidentiality while making the claim specific enough to assess.
Identify the information, its boundaries and its version
Article 27 of the Supreme People's Court's civil trade secret provisions requires the claimant to specify the claimed secret's content before the end of the first-instance court debate. A product name, repository label or reference to “all customer information” does not, by itself, explain the particular information being claimed.
Internally identify the relevant features, steps, data fields or combination of information. Locate the documents, systems or physical materials containing it, and record the relevant version and date. Separate the claimed information from public material and from information outside the proposed claim.
Keep that detailed description in a controlled file. Preparing it for legal review does not mean publishing it or pasting it into an initial inquiry form.
Connect the claim to all three legal requirements
Article 10 of the 2025 Anti-Unfair Competition Law defines a trade secret through three requirements: information not known to the public, commercial value and corresponding confidentiality measures taken by the rights holder.
The nonpublic inquiry concerns people in the relevant field at the time of the alleged conduct. Identify public disclosures and accessible sources rather than assuming internal origin proves secrecy. A compilation or improvement of public information needs its own assessment; public components do not automatically resolve the status of the resulting information.
Explain the actual or potential commercial advantage. Development records, avoided costs or a competitive use may help explain value, but company expenditure alone does not establish every requirement. Connect the explanation to the defined information, not merely to the business's overall success.
Show which safeguards protected that information
The 2026 SAMR Trade Secret Protection Provisions, effective June 1, 2026, include confidentiality agreements, notices, access restrictions, classification and technical controls among possible measures. The SPC provisions separately assess reasonable measures taken before the alleged infringement, including their relationship to the information and its carrier.
An NDA is one possible measure, not a substitute for identifying the secret or establishing its other legal characteristics. Record who was bound, which information the obligation covered and when restrictions were communicated. Confidentiality obligations can also arise in circumstances without an express contractual clause; the particular relationship still needs review.
Preserve historical permissions, relevant training or notices and records showing how controls operated. A newly introduced restriction does not prove it existed before the incident.
Trace access separately from the alleged misuse
Article 12 of the SPC provisions considers an employee's duties, tasks, involvement and contact with the information when assessing access opportunities. Map the person's role and authorized access against the relevant version and dates.
A login or download record needs context: the account, system, permission scope, file and event should be connected where the records allow. An account identifier does not automatically identify the person operating it. Separate documented events from assumptions about who copied, received or used particular information.
Authorized initial access does not necessarily authorize later disclosure or use. Conversely, a job change or access opportunity alone does not prove misuse. Independent development and qualifying reverse engineering are also relevant possibilities under the SPC provisions. Preserve the evidence supporting the alleged connection and material that may point to a lawful explanation; investigate through lawful access and appropriate procedures.
Understand the conditions for civil evidentiary burdens
Article 39 of the current law contains two related rules for civil trade secret trials. First, where the rights holder supplies preliminary evidence of confidentiality measures and reasonably indicates infringement, the alleged infringer must show that the claimed information is not a legally protected trade secret.
Second, preliminary evidence reasonably indicating infringement, together with a listed category of evidence, can require the alleged infringer to prove no infringement. One category combines an opportunity or channel to obtain the secret with substantial similarity between the information used and the secret. The law also lists disclosure, use or risk of disclosure or use, and other evidence of infringement.
These conditions matter. Access alone does not establish the combined access-and-similarity category, and an NDA does not automatically shift every evidentiary burden or prove the case. These civil rules should not be treated as the evidentiary rules for every administrative or criminal proceeding.
Prepare five connected records for a secure review
This is a practical preparation list, not a universal court filing checklist:
Defined information: a controlled description of the claimed content, boundaries, relevant version and the materials containing it.
Nonpublic status and value: dated public-source checks and records explaining the particular information's actual or potential commercial advantage.
Safeguards: relevant agreements, notices, permissions and evidence of their operation before the alleged conduct.
Access and conduct: a timeline linking people, roles, systems, files and alleged acquisition, disclosure or use, with uncertain links clearly identified.
Evidence history: originals where available, collection dates and sources, handling records and a separate set of working copies.
For China IP enforcement, start with the parties' legal names, your role, the China-related issue described without revealing the secret, your objective, budget and timeline. Firms coordinating client matters can use the foreign-associate channel.
Complete conflict checks and agree confidentiality and a secure transfer method before sharing the secret's detailed content, source code, complete customer lists or confidential case files. Initial contact is not a formal legal opinion or a guarantee of protection or recovery.
Official sources checked November 6, 2026. This guide provides general information; the information, conduct, applicable law and procedural route require case-specific review.