Congress has just passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA); it is a virtual certainty that President Barack Obama will sign it into law. The DTSA represents a significant advance in trade secret law, and the prosecution of trade secret claims. Prior to the enactment of the DTSA, trade secret claims could only be brought in state court, absent diversity jurisdiction. Forty seven states have enacted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) with some material variations state by state. (Notably, New York is one of the three states that have not enacted the UTSA, but a bill to adopt it is pending).
Prior to the enactment of the DTSA, trade secrets were only protected by: (i) state law; (ii) criminal prosecution under the Economic Espionage Act. and (iii) the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, (which has a very narrow civil remedy, and is limited to computers). In addition, trade secrets were the only branch of intellectual property law not afforded a federal remedy.
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