Trade Secret Protection - Singapore

Singapore case – SEVEN former employees of Citibank were prosecuted for taking clients information before leaving to join rival UBS. The charges were under the Singapore Computer Misuse Act (CMA) for unauthorised access to data stored in Citibank's computer servers The former employees were charged for accessing the bank's computers without authority, some sent the data, in the form of spreadsheets, to their personal e-mail addresses. They were each filed about S$130,000 to S$170,000 Usually important to have computer forensics to secure evidence Because of difficulty, some companies use restraint of trade clauses in contracts Assumption is that senior employees would use trade secrets when joining competitors For these senior employees, they may be required to sign non-compete promises Example – shall not work for competitor for six months after resignation Has to be reasonable – not too long and not too wide in geographical Rationale - the former employer should be allowed to recoup its position following the departure of the employee for a reasonable period