Trade secrets bill introduced to US Senate

US politicians have introduced a bill aimed at shoring up protection for trade secrets and helping companies to avoid the loss of “hundreds of billions of dollars” each year.

The Defend Trade Secrets Act, introduced to the US Senate on Wednesday, July 29, seeks to create a “uniform standard” for tackling trade secret misappropriation.

The bill was introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch, Jeff Flake and Thom Tillis of the Republican Party and Chris Coons, Dick Durbin and Tammy Baldwin of the Democratic Party.

Representatives Doug Collins of the Republican Party and Jerrold Nadler of the Democratic Party joined the senators in introducing the bill.

If the bill is approved, companies would be able to have their trade secrets protected by federal law and defend them in federal courts.

The law’s remedies would be consistent with those provided for other forms of intellectual property infringement, such as patent, trademark and copyright.

According to a statement on Hatch’s website, the current law on trade secrets is insufficient.

Despite the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 making trade secret theft a crime, the Department of Justice lacks the resources to prosecute many such cases, Hatch said.

He added that state-level civil trade secret laws alone have not been sufficient to stop inter-state theft.

“Unfortunately, in today’s global information age, there are endless examples of how easy—and rewarding—it can be to steal trade secrets,” Hatch said in a statement.

“The Defend Trade Secrets Act establishes a uniform standard for what constitutes trade secret theft. I hope Congress will act quickly to pass this bipartisan, bicameral bill that will help American companies maintain their competitive advantage both here and abroad.”

On the day the bill was introduced, 30 brands including Nike, Eli Lilly, GE, Honda, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Boeing and Siemens outlined their support for the bill.

In a co-signed letter, they said: “The protection of this form of IP is critical to driving the innovation and creativity at the heart of the American economy.

“Companies in America, however, are increasingly the targets of sophisticated efforts to steal proprietary information, harming our global competitiveness.”