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ARTICLE · 16 APRIL 2012

Will Massachusetts Adopt The Uniform Trade Secrets Act?

Foley Hoag LLP
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At my last Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA) Civil Litigation Section meeting, I learned about a bill to adopt the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) that has been floating around the Massachusetts Legislature since late January.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Foley Hoag LLP
Foley Hoag LLP
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At my last Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA) Civil Litigation Section meeting, I learned about a bill to adopt the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) that has been floating around the Massachusetts Legislature since late January. Forms of the UTSA have been adopted in 46 states in addition to the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Only New York, Texas, North Carolina, and Massachusetts have not adopted it.

The last action on the bill was a hearing before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary on February 28, 2012. Testimony before the Committee and a copy of the bill with both official comments on the UTSA and comments specific to the version proposed in Massachusetts, which is slightly different, are available here. Importantly, the bill supersedes the definitions, procedures, and remedies applied in Massachusetts chapter 93A actions (regulating unfair and deceptive trade practices) for trade secret misappropriation. The

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