Bill would enhance protection of trade secrets

Bipartisan legislation co-sponsored on Tuesday by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) would take steps to prevent theft of trade secrets, which costs companies hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

Hatch and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, co-sponsored the Defend Trade Secrets Act.

“American companies utilizing technology to grow and create more jobs increasingly face threats to the trade secrets that help drive their success,” Hatch said. “The legislation we are introducing (on Tuesday) takes a big step towards confronting bad actors seeking to steal intellectual property and provides victims of trade secret theft with the legal protections they need. I hope Congress will act quickly to pass this bipartisan bill that will help American companies maintain their competitive advantage both here and abroad.”

The measure would create a uniform standard for trade secret misappropriation, assure injunctions and damages when trade secrets are stolen and make protection of trade secrets consistent with other forms of intellectual property like patents, trademarks and copyrights.

“The intellectual property that drives the U.S. economy has never been more valuable, or more vulnerable,” Coons said. “American companies are losing jobs because of the theft of trade secrets every day. This bipartisan bill will empower American companies to protect their jobs by legally confronting those who steal their trade secrets. It will finally give trade secrets the same legal protections that other forms of critical intellectual property already enjoy. Congress should step in now to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs and revenue being lost to the theft of trade secrets by passing the Defend Trade Secrets Act.”

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 made the theft of trade secrets a crime, and the Department of Justice brought 25 cases to court in 2013.

The legislation is based on the idea that federal courts are better equipped to work across state and national boundaries to facilitate the discovery process, subpoena witnesses and assure that parties don’t leave the country.

Also, under the current system, the law varies from state to state, making it difficult for companies to implement uniform trade secret protection policies.