ARTICLE · 23 MAY 2016

Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act Signed Into Law

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP

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On May 11, 2016, President Barack Obama officially signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act ("DTSA") into law with broad bipartisan support from the House and Senate.

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On May 11, 2016, President Barack Obama officially signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act ("DTSA") into law with broad bipartisan support from the House and Senate. This comes nearly three years after the Obama Administration released its "Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets," a report detailing its commitment to addressing trade secret misappropriation in a rapidly-advancing technological age. The new law creates a federal private cause of action for trade secret theft and misappropriation. Beyond the significance to trade secret protection itself, the new law has some significant employment law implications for companies who maintain trade secret information and who include trade secret protections in various employee agreements.

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