Guohao Zhao
Trade secret protection requires information to be not generally known but allows legitimate acquisition. Yet data deeply integrated with the Internet faces difficulties in establishing secrecy due to the complexity of interacting entities. With the synergistic advancement of AI density laws and Moore’s Law, edge intelligence has seen explosive growth in scenarios such as intelligent cockpits and AI smartphones. Its core features—open‑source deployment and distributed computing—exacerbate specific risks, including leakage of data trade secret parameters and blurred boundary definitions. China’s current legal framework, regarding rights determination, rule application, and governance mechanisms, inadequately addresses the dual scenario characteristics of open‑source license constraints, edge‑computing limitations, and ecosystem‑sharing orientations, leading to a growing adaptability crisis. In response, there is an urgent need to optimise scenario‑based determination standards, establish a tiered protection and flexible exemption framework compatible with open‑source ecosystems, and develop a technology‑adaptive multi‑dimensional collaborative governance mechanism. This aims to provide a viable pathway for adapting intellectual property rule‑of‑law frameworks to emerging technologies in the digital economy era.