The Rise of Federal Trade Secret Protection

It is done. President Obama signed into law the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”), the nation’s first federal trade secret protection act with civil remedies. The DTSA is effective May 12, 2016 for any misappropriation (as defined in the statute) “for any act which occurs on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.”

The DTSA does not preempt states’ trade secret laws; those state laws remain in effect. Accordingly, there is no requirement that a party even allege a DTSA claim when pursuing a trade secret action. Strategic consideration must be given to bringing a DTSA claim and the impact on jurisdiction. A plaintiff that prefers litigating in state court may wish to forego adding a DTSA cause of action to the lawsuit because doing so would create a federal question. If a state court lawsuit alleges a DTSA claim, the defendant may remove the case to federal court.

Remedies under the DTSA include damages for the loss caused by the misappropriation, damages for unjust enrichment, and injunctive relief for any actual or threatened misappropriation. If a plaintiff can establish that the trade secret was “willfully and maliciously appropriated,” the court can award exemplary damages of up to two times the amount of actual damages. For bringing a claim, reasonable attorney’s fees may also be awarded to the prevailing party, as well as to a defendant if the claim of misappropriation is made in bad faith.

Once an afterthought, trade secrets were the last of the four major types of IP—patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret—recognized by the courts, and the basic elements of the tort of trade secret misappropriation have been recognized since only the late 1800s and early 1900s.¹ However, as we reported here, the number of trade theft continues to rise, and by one metric, doubled between 1995 and 2004. Until now, trade secrets were the only major type of intellectual property not backed by U.S. federal civil remedies to compensate owners for theft.

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¹ Catherine L. Fisk, Working Knowledge: Trade Secrets, Restrictive Covenants in Employment, and the Rise of Corporate Intellectual Property, 1800–1920, 52 HASTINGS L.J. 441, 441 (2000)