營業秘密法刑罰化與員工工作權之衝突－兼論美國經濟間諜法制度

Abstract

營業秘密刑罰化為國際上趨勢，我國或有其必要增訂刑責，然其對於勞工或員工的權益造成多大的影響，即為本文所欲探討之重點。職場上，勞工或員工權益一向處與較弱勢的一方，而員工本有的專業知識與企業主之營業秘密很難截然劃分，若是在長期研發而又未對營業秘密或其他智慧財產權簽訂契約明確定其歸屬的情況下，營業秘密的保護以及員工選擇工作之自由的兩方利益，究竟要如何取捨，本身極難驟下論斷。 雖謂企業主確得基於保護其商業機密、營業利益或維持其競爭優勢，要求勞工或員工在職期間或離職後之一定期間、區域內，不得受僱或經營與其相同或類似之業務工作，簽訂競業禁止契約，但多數競業禁止條款為企業單方面擬定，對於地域、時間、行業別等往往係不合理、不公平的限制，這些限制直接地造成勞工或員工工作權之限制。縱係合理之限制，實務上企業亦並未給予相當的補償或是根本未給予補償而常遭法院宣告無效的競業禁止條款亦所在多有。營業秘密法刑罰化一方面雖有保護企業主長期辛苦累積的營業秘密的功能，但也可能成為企業拿來威嚇離職員工的工具，以刑逼民的情況該如何解決值得深思。 又，我國營業秘密法刑罰化條文之訂立乃參考自美國經濟間諜法，而美國經濟間諜法自1996年施行至今，已奠定許多案例基礎，本文希望藉由研究分析美國經濟間諜法相關文獻，輔以我國營業秘密與競業禁止相關文獻，來比較檢討我國目前營業秘密刑罰化條文。 此外，為結合學說與實務，本文希望透過實證研究及質性訪談之方式，一方面深入了解我國目前法院實務上針對離職後競業禁止約款有效性之認定，以及過去竊取營業秘密相關行為之刑事處罰狀況；另一方面訪談實務界及學界人士，從另一角度了解實務上對於營業秘密保護之認定，並了解其對於本次修法可能產生之實行困難。本論文將藉由多方意見之整合，配合我國實務現況，試圖對相關制度設計提出具體建議。

Adding or cumulating criminal liability to trade secret infringement seems to be an unstoppable trend in the world, and Taiwan is no exception. However, the conflict between criminalization of Trade Secret Act and employee mobility is the most important thing that this thesis wants to probe into. Since employees are usually the disadvantaged minority, their bargaining power are relatively weak. When the working experience increases, it becomes harder to discriminate trade secrets from employees’ general skills. Thus, with the criminalization of trade secret theft, it is vital to balance the protection of employers’ trade secrets and employees’ right to work. It is undoubtedly sensible that employers demand employees to sign Covenants Not to Compete for the sake of protecting trade secrets, limiting reasonable time, area etc. However, most Covenants Not to Compete are unilaterally written by employers, the terms and conditions are more often than not unreasonable, unfair and unchangeable. Though there sometimes might be reasonable restrictions on terms, there usually lack reasonable compensation to make up for the loss of employees’ right to work. For one thing, criminalization of Trade Secret Act can help protect trade secrets that employers spent millions of time and money on; for another, it can also become a fatal weapon for employers to threaten employees who intend to leave the company. The newly added penal articles mainly refer to Economic Espionage Act in the US. Since 1996, there have been many cases to study and look into. This thesis aims to analyse materials that are related to Economic Espionage Act, supplemented by papers that are related to Trade Secret Act and Covenants not to Compete in Taiwan to compare and self-criticize the criminalization of Trade Secret Act. Moreover, in order to integrate practice with theory, this thesis devotes to study the criminalization of Trade Secret Act by conducting interviews with the professionals and empirical research of trade secret theft related cases. From those research, this thesis hopes to make clear suggestions for further law amending