A MAN was ordered to compensate his former employer for economic losses and rights protection expenses due to infringing on business secrets, the Shenzhen Evening News reported.

The plaintiff, a technology company, was founded in 1990, and has established long-term and stable cooperative relations with many companies over years of operation.

In order to protect business secrets, such as important customer information, the company has adopted corresponding confidentiality policies and asked its employees to abide by the rules.

In 2005, a man surnamed Fan was employed by the company and signed a confidentiality agreement, which stipulated that Fan could not transfer the company’s customer information to an employee-owned enterprise or a third party.

In 2007, the company decided to open up the market and set up an office in Shanghai. Fan was promoted to lead the Shanghai office and was responsible for developing and managing customer relations in the area.

However, in 2014, three companies that had cooperated with the technology company for 10 years suddenly terminated their partnership and turned to a chemical company.

It turned out that Fan and his wife had jointly set up a chemical company back in 2010, and the products they sold were identical to those of the technology company. Meanwhile, Fan had secretly established a business relationship with the three companies under the name of a chemical company.

After learning the truth, the technology company filed a lawsuit in Futian District People’s Court for infringement of business secrets, requesting the defendants, Fan’s chemical company and Fan, cease infringing on the plaintiff’s business secrets immediately, stop using the plaintiff’s customer information and compensate the plaintiff for damages.

The court recently heard the case. According to the ruling, Fan and his company should stop infringing on the plaintiff’s business secrets and they are not allowed to use the business secrets for two years.

Fan and his company are required to compensate the plaintiff 470,000 yuan (US$68,013) for economic losses and 30,000 yuan for expenses incurred during the rights protection process. (Zhang Yu)