Effective as of October 1, 2018, Massachusetts will become the
49th state to adopt a version of the Uniform Trade
Secrets Act (leaving New York as the only holdout). Massachusetts
did so as part of a large budget bill recently signed into law,
which also resulted in the adoption of the Massachusetts
Noncompetition Agreement Act. (The text of the Massachusetts
version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act is set out on pages 47-52
of the bill, H. 4868, while the effective date is set out on page
117. Here is a link to the entire
budget bill.)
While there are differences from existing Massachusetts law
regarding trade secrets, the new law is similar in most respects to
the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act ("DTSA").
Nevertheless, the remedy provisions of the two laws are not
identical, and there will be situations where greater relief is
available under one statute than the other. For example, ex
parte seizure orders are only available under DTSA, and
attorney's fees and
