Legal Consequences of Using Novel’s Clues for Entertainment under Trade Secret Law

Abstract

          The purposes of this research were to study and analyze the legal consequences of using the novel's clues for entertainment and to study and analyze the determination of the defendant's burden of proof appropriate in the case of the use for entertainment of the clue in the novel under the Trade Secrets Act 2545 B.E. Article 12 by using qualitative research methods and collecting data from trade secret laws, including the TRIPS Agreement, Trade Secret Act 2545 B.E. as well as trade secret laws of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Japan. The results of the research found that the unsolved novel's clues and the reason for the answer are kind of a trade secret according to the Trade Secrets Act 2545 B.E. Article 3. Independent discovery of use for entertainment is an exception to the infringement of the novel's clue according to the Trade Secrets Act 2545 B.E. Article 7 (3). However, the use of the novel's clues for entertainment is considered a form of use. If the rights holder is a plaintiff suing the reader as the defendant in a trade secret infringement case from the use, the defendant have the burden of proof to rebut the presumption of law under Article 12 of the Trade Secrets Act 2545 B.E. which is a presumption that the defendant, who is the user of the novel's clues that create the novel’s clues, is the infringer from the use first until the defendant proves otherwise. But the use of such a presumption in the case of infringement of the novel’s clues with the plot based on the use may prevent independent discovery. Therefore, the researcher recommends the enactment of secondary law on the determination of the burden of proof by specifying the presumption under Article 12 of the Trade Secrets Act 2545 B.E. only in the case of infringement of mystery in the novel with the Slice of Life novel from the use.