WIPR survey: A successful first year for the Defend Trade Secrets Act

The majority of WIPR readers have hailed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), which recently turned one year old, as a success.

Former US President Barack Obama  signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act into law in May last year, implementing federal protection for trade secrets and bringing them into line with other forms of IP.

As previously reported by WIPR, the act allows owners to secure federal relief for the misappropriation of their knowledge, as opposed to going through individual state courts.

Responding to a survey, 80 percent of WIPR readers agreed that the act has been a success in the past year.

One reader said that it provides the owners of trade secrets with more options, which the reader said was “a good thing.”

Another reader said: “The DTSA is a success for US companies looking to enforce their IP rights. Before the enactment of the DTSA, in the absence of an independent federal cause of action, companies seeking redress for trade secrets misappropriation had no choice but to sue in state court.”

The reader added that this raised an obvious issue, “because state laws protecting against trade secrets misappropriation tend to differ from state to state, both in the text of the laws themselves and in their application”.

The bill was passed by 410 votes to 2 by the US House of Representatives in April 2016, after being passed by the Senate by 87 votes to 0.

For this week’s survey question, we ask: “What has been the highlight of INTA’s 2017 Annual Meeting in Barcelona?”