Section 324: Disclosing an industrial or scientific secret learned in a position of trust

Firm annotation

Section 324 protects industrial and scientific secrets against the person who was trusted with them. Its elements are (1) holding a position, a profession, or an occupation of trust, (2) by reason of which the offender comes to know or obtains another person's secret concerning industry, a discovery, or a scientific invention, and (3) disclosing or using that secret, (4) for his own benefit or for the benefit of another. Two features are easily missed. The subject matter is confined to industrial, discovery and scientific-invention secrets, so an ordinary commercial or personal secret is outside the section. And the prohibited act is disclosing or using, so an employee who quietly exploits the secret himself, telling nobody, is caught as squarely as one who passes it on. Section 323 is the neighbouring provision and is built differently: it covers the secret of another learned as an official or in one of the listed callings such as physician, pharmacist, midwife, nurse, priest, lawyer or auditor, it is not limited by the subject matter of the secret, and it requires disclosure in a manner likely to cause injury but no benefit to the offender. The penalty here is up to six months, or a fine of up to 10,000 baht, or both, which is among the lightest in the Code; serious industrial-secret disputes are in practice pursued under the Trade Secrets Act B.E. 2545 and in the civil courts. Section 325 makes every offence in this Chapter compoundable, so the complaint must be lodged within three months under Section 96. The current rates were set by Section 4 of the Penal Code Amendment Act (No. 26) B.E. 2560.