Supreme People's Court: Remuneration from Projects Secured via Misappropriated Trade Secrets Deemed as Infringement Profits

WISECODE Take

In the judgment (2023) Zui Gao Fa Zhi Min Zhong No. 2880 on December 25, 2025, the Supreme People's Court of China ruled that if an enterprise misappropriates another's technology to secure a project, the remuneration obtained will be directly deemed as infringement profits. In this case, an engineering company accessed the plaintiff's desulfurization technology during a cooperation in July 2020, subsequently breached the NDA to leak it, and secured a project. The second instance court ordered compensatory damages of 44.5849 million RMB plus double punitive damages. By treating the technology provider's entire project remuneration as the value of the trade secret, the court shattered the infringer's excuse that the technology only accounted for a fraction of the project. Honest enterprises not involved in misappropriating others' secrets are entirely unaffected by this ruling. However, for engineering and manufacturing firms engaged in frequent technical exchanges, Zhidian offers trade secret management system implementation services to clarify cooperation boundaries. I suggest: first, always sign NDAs and keep detailed records of technical disclosures before cooperating; second, require non-infringement warranties when introducing external technologies to avoid joint liability. Just as athletes who cheat to win are stripped of their medals and prize money, businesses that secure projects by exploiting others' technical secrets must face the consequence of disgorging all their profits.