Defend Trade Secrets Notification Requirement

Most companies are aware that President Obama recently signed into law new federal trade secret protection, entitled the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). The DTSA provides protection for trade secrets similar to that found in the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (and its variants) that are currently employed in the states. Some companies may even be aware that the DTSA includes additional protection that current state law does not. One of those protections is protection from trade secret misappropriation liability for so-called "whistleblowers" in three circumstances:

• if the disclosure of the trade secret is made to a federal, state, or local government official or an attorney for the sole purpose of reporting a suspected legal violation;