Companies seeking to protect their intellectual property may have causes of action under both state and federal laws. Our previous article addressed protection of trade secrets based on New Jersey law and the New Jersey Trade Secrets Act. Here, we address protecting trade secrets in the District of New Jersey and the Third Circuit, focusing on recent trade secret decisions from those courts, in addition to analyzing the overlaps often seen between these federal law and state law claims.

Protecting Trade Secrets Under Federal Law

Before 2016, there was no federal private cause of action for litigants seeking to protect trade secrets, and a party seeking to protect its trade secrets was limited to rights provided for by state law. On May 11, 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), which provided a uniform definition for what constitutes a trade secret, to create a civil federal remedy for trade secret owners to protect their rights, and to address the concerns of American companies in a globalized economy. Under the law, codified at 18 U.S.C. §1831 et seq., companies may initiate proceedings to protect their trade secrets in federal courts.