Skip to content
Life Guide U.S. essentials
English

Don't take source code, customer lists or technical documents when you leave, don't upload them to a personal cloud drive, and don't reuse them at your next employer

  • High value
  • Evidence A
  • Keeps you free
  • Free
  • Takes minutes
  • Some willpower

In plain words

The copyright in code you wrote yourself also belongs to the company, and a customer list counts as a trade secret, so taking them means taking the company's property. An employee who left with the source code of a security-screening system for a new company was sentenced to 5 years and fined 500,000 CNY, and the new company was fined 4,000,000 (400万) CNY. Another person exploited a system flaw to download more than 33,000 design files and got 1 year 10 months. The company can also sue you separately for damages.

Cost

Free. Before you leave, delete company materials from your personal computer and cloud drive. The hard part is that some files are ones you wrote line by line, and it is hard to let go of them.

What you get

Breaking a confidentiality duty by disclosing a trade secret or using it yourself carries up to 3 years when the circumstances are serious, with a fine on top or a fine alone, and 3 to 10 years plus a fine in especially serious cases. The Anti-Unfair Competition Law (反不正当竞争法) also lists two acts as infringement: getting a trade secret by "electronic intrusion" (breaking into a system by technical means), and inciting or helping someone to break a confidentiality duty. Official cases: Sun and other departed employees took the source code and core algorithm of a security-screening system and used them in a new company's products. Sun was sentenced to 5 years and fined 500,000 CNY, and the new company was fined 4,000,000 (400万) CNY. Tian used a system flaw to download more than 33,000 design files and got 1 year 10 months and a fine of 100,000 CNY. Yang, an engineer, saved an app module's source code on a personal computer and in the cloud, then switched jobs and built a similar app, and was prosecuted for the crime of infringing trade secrets (nationwide)

Notes

The copyright in "code you wrote yourself" also belongs to the company; see §11.13 (code written with company resources belongs to the company). Taking it means taking the company's property. A customer list is business information and is also a trade secret. Besides criminal punishment, the company may bring a separate civil claim for damages.

Evidence grade
A : Specific numbers from meta-analyses, large cohorts or randomized trials; for law and policy, the statute or official text.
Sources
  1. 全国人大 (2020). 刑法（根据刑法修正案（十一）修正，第二百一十九条）. https://jtgl.beijing.gov.cn/jgj/jgxx/flfg/fl/11033925/index.html
  2. 全国人大常委会 (2025). 反不正当竞争法（2025 年修订，第十条）. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202506/t20250627_699862.shtml
  3. 最高人民检察院 (2025). 检察机关知识产权保护典型案例（案例七）. https://www.spp.gov.cn/xwfbh/wsfbh/202504/t20250423_693691.shtml
  4. 最高人民检察院 (2020). 2019 年度检察机关保护知识产权典型案例（案例十六）. https://www.spp.gov.cn/xwfbh/wsfbh/202004/t20200425_459623.shtml
  5. 最高人民检察院 (2025). 检察机关依法惩治侵害企业数据安全犯罪 服务保障企业创新发展（案例五）. https://www.spp.gov.cn/xwfbh/wsfbh/202501/t20250124_680670.shtml

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 11, tip 7. This section describes legal rules, mostly mainland China’s. It is general information, not legal advice; for your own case, talk to a lawyer. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer