Cross-shareholding is a relatively common phenomenon, also referred to as reciprocal shareholding, mutual shareholding or mutual equity participation. It refers to an economic phenomenon or organizational form in which two or more companies hold equity interests in each other for specific purposes, thus forming a status where each party acts as an investor of the other. For example, both Company A and Company B have independent legal person status. Company A holds 20% of the equity interests of Company B, while Company B holds 15% of the equity interests of Company A, which constitutes the most basic form of cross-shareholding. Another form is that Company A holds equity interests in Company B, Company B holds equity interests in Company C, and Company C in turn holds equity interests in Company A. All other forms of cross-shareholding are mostly extensions and variations of the two basic forms above.
With the advancement of Internet, computer and information technologies, a growing number of enterprises store their business data in the form of electronic data. However, in practice, acts of copying or deleting a company's business data by its current or former employees taking advantage of work facilitation remain rampant despite repeated prohibitions. Given the strong deterrent effect of criminal penalties, criminal remedies have become the most stringent means for commercial protection. Different from traditional trade secret infringement acts, trade secret infringements under the Internet environment usually have such characteristics as concealment, complexity, high-tech attribute, large scale of infringement, wide infringement channels and diversified infringement subjects. This has resulted in the long-term unsatisfactory effect of crackdown on the crime of infringing on trade secrets in judicial practice. Under such circumstances, it is of vital importance for right holders to adjust their mindsets to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. This article makes a brief analysis of the crime of infringing on trade secrets and the crime of illegally obtaining data from computer information systems for the reference of readers.
