Illegal Receipt of Information Containing Trade Secrets (Commercial Espionage) as a Threat to Fair Competition

Based on the fact that modern business is moving away from the practice of industrial espionage, and towards a civilized way of obtaining information - competitive intelligence, which uses the information obtained entirely from official sources, it can be recognized as a strategy that actively strengthens its position in the structure of modern companies around the world. Based on the analysis of scientific literature, as well as standards of international and national law, the article specifies signs of unfair competition, including the specific actions of illegal competition taken by economic cooperators, which violate the law, trade practices, requirements of integrity, reason and justice. The authors specify the manifestations (forms) of “economic war”, economic (industrial) espionage and illegal intelligence methods that violate the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The article describes the relationship between sources of confidential information and actions that lead to the acquisition of this information by perpetrators. In conclusion, it is proposed that the overwhelming amount of information that is necessary for competitors can now be obtained by using legal methods - through publications that are openly available; public presentations of employees; exhibitions; data from commodity and stock exchanges. The list of data that must be officially published by the organization is constantly expanding.