Hello, I am Attorney Eom Sang-yoon of Cheongchul Law Firm.
Today, we will learn about what the concept of trade secret, which is restricted from examination and copying under civil litigation law, is.
[Question]
I filed a lawsuit for damages due to the infringement of a trade secret and won, but the company's confidential information is included in the judgment and lawsuit documents. In this case, can a third party be prevented from viewing the lawsuit records?
[Answer]
Article 163 of the Civil Procedure Act states that at the request of a party, the court may limit who can apply for examination and copying of parts of the lawsuit records that contain secrets. Therefore, by utilizing the examination and copying restriction system, it is possible to prevent the disclosure of the company’s confidential information through the examination and copying of lawsuit records related to trade secrets.
Civil Procedure Act Article 163 ① If there is evidence that meets any of the following criteria, the court may limit the persons who can apply for examination and copying of parts of the lawsuit records that contain secrets, as well as the provision of certified copies of judgments and records that contain secrets, (hereinafter referred to as “examination of secret records, etc.”) at the request of a party. 1. If there is significant secrecy concerning a party's private life in the documents of the lawsuit, and if allowing a third party to view the secret records would greatly interfere with the party’s social life. 2. When trade secrets (as defined in Article 2, Paragraph 2 of the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act) are included in the lawsuit records. ② If an application is made under paragraph 1, a third party may not apply for the examination of the secret record until the ruling regarding that application is finalized. ③ The court holding the lawsuit records may cancel the decision under paragraph 1 if a third party that has a vested interest applies and proves that the reasons for paragraph 1 do not exist or have been extinguished. ④ A decision to dismiss an application under paragraph 1 or a decision regarding the application in paragraph 3 may be appealed immediately. ⑤ The cancellation decision in paragraph 3 shall take effect upon finalization. |
In this regard, the Supreme Court has ruled that the concept of 'trade secret' established in Article 163, Paragraph 1, Item 2 of the Civil Procedure Act should be interpreted as being identical to the concept of trade secret under the 'Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act' and particularly, when a request for the transmission of documents is made concerning undisclosed cases, it should be considered that even if there are no vested interests from a third party, they will have unrestricted access to undisclosed lawsuit records. Thus, the necessity to protect trade secrets contained in undisclosed lawsuit records is even greater (2019Ma6016).
Therefore, litigants should prove the requirements of trade secrets, such as confidentiality, economic usefulness, and confidentiality management, and apply for restrictions on the examination of the lawsuit records. In this case, the applying party must clearly specify the documents subject to restrictions and the specified trade secrets therein.
However, in practice, courts tend to recognize the scope of trade secrets more broadly in applications for restrictions on examination than in the main case, and the above Supreme Court ruling suggests that if the confidentiality obligations imposed on shareholder agreements contain concrete supervision duties regarding the confidentiality of the contract's management method or impose confidentiality obligations on employees who can access the contract, it may indicate there is some evidence that a trade secret is recorded. Considering these circumstances, the original judgment was overturned for lacking sufficient evidence of the requirements for trade secrets.
(For reference, the amended Article 163 of the Civil Procedure Act, which will take effect on July 12, 2025, introduces a provision for protecting personal information so that it is not disclosed to third parties when there is evidence that there is a danger to the life or body of a party involved in the lawsuit.)
Cheongchul Law Firm is a corporate law firm established by attorneys from the four major law firms, providing comprehensive solutions for trade secrets, intellectual property rights, and more. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us via email or phone.
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