OBJECTIVE： To provide reference for improving legal protection system of proprietary technology in TCM time-honored enterprises. METHODS： By studying the relevant literatures and data， main type of proprietary technology， formula， legal characteristics of processing technology in TCM time-honored enterprises were analyzed； the protection forms and existing problems of proprietary technology were summarized to put forward countermeasures. RESULTS ＆ CONCLUSIONS： The most important proprietary technology of TCM time-honored brand is formula and TCM processing technology， and legal characteristics of it include practicality， value， confidentiality and teachability. The proprietary technology protection of TCM time-honored brand included various methods such as business secret， patent protection and administrative protection. But， there still are problems such as the incompatibility of patent protection， the conflict between the secret protection and information disclosure， gradually weakened means of administrative protection， weak awareness of legal protection in time-honored brand of TCM. It is suggested to use comprehensive protection means of patent system and business secret， coordinate intellectual property protection and administrative protection， establish proprietary technology protection directories and databases and incentive and constraint mechanism of internal intellectual property rights in enterprises so as to seek effective way to protect proprietary technology of TCM time-honored brand.