Trade secrets security

Stealing Trade Secrets and Economic Espionage:An Overview of the Economic Espionage Act

Stealing a trade secret is a federal crime when the information relates to a product in interstate or foreign commerce, 18 U.S.C. 1832 (theft of trade secrets), or when the intended beneficiary is a foreign power, 18 U.S.C. 1831 (economic espionage). Section 1832 requires that the thief be aware that the misappropriation will injure the secret’s owner to the benefit of someone else. Section 1831 requires only that the thief intend to benefit a foreign government or one of its instrumentalities. Offenders face lengthy prison terms as well as heavy fines, and they must pay restitution. Moreover, property derived from the offense or used to facilitate its commission is subject to confiscation. The sections reach violations occurring overseas, if the offender is a United States national or if an act in furtherance of the crime is committed within the United States. Depending on the circumstances, misconduct captured in the two sections may be prosecuted under other federal statutes as well. A defendant charged with stealing trade secrets is often indictable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the National Stolen Property Act, and/or the federal wire fraud statute. 

Trade secrets security

Whistleblowers fear prosecution under new European Trade Secrets law

The European Parliament is debating a bill on Thursday critics say threatens to turn whistleblowers into criminals.

The aim of the Trade Secrets Protection Act is to protect European companies from corporate spying by their rivals in other parts of the world.

But critics say journalists and whistleblowers could be criminalised if they publish information that companies deem to be secret.

More than half a million people have signed a petition against the bill.

Industrial espionage is a major worry in the corporate world, and other countries have already put laws in place to protect their companies.

Trade secrets security

The New European Directive on the Protection of Trade Secrets

On 15 December 2015, the European Council and representatives of the European Parliament reached a consensus on the European Commission’s proposed Directive on “the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure.” The Commission’s original proposal of November 2013 was part of its wider Europe 2020 strategy, in which the Commission has undertaken “to create an Innovation Union, protecting investments in the knowledge base, reducing costly fragmentation, and making Europe a more rewarding place for innovation.” The compromise text of the Directive has yet to be adopted by the European Parliament.