Do Your Employment Agreements Comply with the Defend Trade Secrets Acts of 2016?
May 24, 2016
This week, President Obama signed into law the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. This new law does not replace current state laws on trade secrets; instead, it merely gives parties a potential new venue to pursue trade secret claims. Remedies include injunctive relief, actual damages, “exemplary damages” in cases in which a trade secret is “willfully and maliciously misappropriated,” attorney’s fees to the prevailing party in certain situations, and even ex parte seizure of “property necessary to prevent the propagation or dissemination of...trade secrets” in very limited circumstances.