The Defend Trade Secrets Act ("DTSA"), recently passed by Congress, will soon permit companies and/or individuals with trade secrets to file civil lawsuits in federal court to remedy the misappropriation of such secrets.  Thanks to DTSA, trade secrets will now receive similar federal legal protections to those that exist for patents, copyrights, and trademarks. 

 

Prior to DTSA, companies/individuals seeking to remedy trade secret misappropriation were left only with remedies under state laws - namely, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.  (Massachusetts is one of two states not to have enacted some variation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act; instead, Massachusetts offers a mix of common law and statutory remedies to protect trade secrets.)  Now, upon receiving the President's signature, DTSA will permit the "owner of a trade secret that is misappropriated [to] bring a civil action...if the trade secret is related to a product or service used in, or intended for use in, interstate or foreign commerce."  This right will supplement state law remedies.

 

The most significant additional benefit from DTSA is that a company/individual may, under extraordinary circumstances, petition the court for an ex parte hearing to seize any property containing the trade secret.  For the court to allow such a seizure, however, the plaintiff must demonstrate:                       

DTSA also vests courts with the authority to issue injunctions (except in two circumstances) and award monetary damages.  DTSA contains a three-year statute of limitations which begins to run when the misappropriation is discovered or when, by the exercise of reasonable diligence, the misappropriation would have been discovered.     

 

If you have any questions about DTSA, please contact a member of the Labor & Employment Group.