On the recordOctober 8, 2015
I rise today to speak about an important form of intellectual property: trade secrets. I am pleased to be participating in this colloquy with my friend from Delaware, Senator Chris Coons. Earlier this year, we introduced the Defend Trade Secrets Act, a bill that will create a harmonized Federal standard for protecting trade secrets. Trade secrets such as customer lists, formulas, and manufacturing processes are an essential form of intellectual property, yet trade secrets are the only form of U.S. intellectual property where misuse does not provide the owner with a Federal private right of action. Instead, trade secret owners must rely on State courts or Federal prosecutors to protect their rights. The multistate procedural and jurisdictional issues that arise from such cases are costly and complicated, and the Department of Justice lacks the resources to prosecute many trade secret cases. Those systemic issues put companies at a great disadvantage since the victims of the trade secret theft need to recover information quickly before it crosses State lines and leaves the country. At a time when cyber theft of trade secrets is at an alltime high, particularly as it involves Chinese competitors, it is critically important that U.S. companies have the ability to protect their trade secrets in Federal court.…
