Beijing Imposes ¥100,000 Fine in First AIGC Trade Secret Case

Recently, the Chaoyang District Market Supervision Administration of Beijing issued a penalty decision in the city's first administrative case involving trade secret infringement in the AIGC (Artificial Intelligence-Generated Content) industry. The authority fined an employee RMB 100,000 for taking confidential information when switching jobs and illicitly copying and using his former employer’s proprietary AI software. The rights-holder company specializes in foreign-language dubbing and translation services for short-form dramas, as well as AI-powered multilingual audiovisual localization solutions. Its self-developed AIGC commercial software was recognized as a core component of the company’s competitive advantage and is protected as a trade secret. During his employment, the individual secretly copied the software and cracked its associated database. After leaving the company, he established a new firm and continued using the software to undertake competing commercial projects for profit. Law enforcement officials employed electronic data forensics techniques to secure data from the suspect’s computers and servers, preventing deletion or tampering. By cross-referencing software installation traces, database access logs, and project output files, they reconstructed the entire sequence of events—detailing how the individual copied and cracked the software during his tenure and subsequently used it at his new company to fulfill commercial orders—thereby establishing a complete chain of evidence. Pursuant to Article 26 of the People’s Republic of China Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the authorities imposed a RMB 100,000 fine on the offending party and provided guidance to the enterprise on strengthening its confidentiality measures.