Breach, Compliance Management, Data Security, Government Regulations

Trade secret anti-theft bill passes House, awaits Obama’s signature

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2015, which creates a single U.S. standard for protecting companies from intellectual property theft through civil recourse, including injunctions and damages against the offending parties in federal court.

The bipartisan bill, which arose in part out of concern over the growing threat of digital IP theft, already passed unanimously in the Senate earlier this month, setting the stage for President Barack Obama to sign it into law.

“Enacting this bill into law will help address the critical problem of trade secret theft, which stifles innovation and costs American companies billions of dollars annually,” said Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who co-authored the bill with Chris Coons (D-Del.), in a press statement. “I hope our success in acting to protect trade secrets will serve as a springboard for additional Congressional action to safeguard other forms of intellectual property.”

Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.