On May 11, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), one of the most significant new developments in IP law in years. The DTSA creates (a) a concurrent federal cause of action for trade secret misappropriation, (b) a new ex parte seizure procedure, not currently available under state trade secrets law, and (c) employee disclosure requirements regarding whistleblower immunity. The DTSA is being treated as an amendment to the existing federal Economic Espionage Act of 1996, which criminalizes certain acts of trade secret misappropriation. Significantly, the DTSA will not preempt existing state law, but adds a new layer of federal protection.
Please join litigation partner, Patrick Premo, and senior litigation associate, Sebastian Kaplan, members of Fenwick & West’s IP & Trade Secrets Litigation Group, for a breakfast briefing to discuss the implications of the new law for trade secrets protection and litigation, and to offer practical advice on how to assist in protecting your company’s trade secrets portfolio and to comply with the law’s new notice requirements.
For your convenience, we are pleased to present this briefing initially in our San Francisco office on Tuesday, June 28 and again in our Mountain View office on Thursday, June 30, 2016. Click above to register for the Mountain View briefing and visit this page to register for the San Francisco briefing.