Effective May 11, 2016, the United States enacted the Defend Trade Secrets Act, which provided, for the first time, a federal cause of action for trade secret misappropriation. Notable provisions of the Act include those:
- Providing for a private civil cause of action, with a three-year statute of limitations, for the owner of a trade secret that is misappropriated, 18 U.S.C. § 1836(b)(1), (d).
- Defining “trade secret” to mean “all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically, or in writing if—(A) the owner thereof has taken reasonable measures to keep such information secret; and (B) the information derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable through proper means by, another person who can obtain economic value from the disclosure or use of the information[.]” 18 U.S.C. § 1839(3).
- Criminalizing theft of trade secrets and providing for up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of the greater of $5,000,000 or 3 times the value of the stolen trade secret, 18 U.S.C. § 1832.
- Providing for an interlocutory appeal from a decision or order of a district court authorizing or directing the disclosure of any trade secret in cases brought under the Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1835(a).