As I
noted earlier, Rep. Lofgren (D,CA) introduced HR
2466, the Private Right of Action Against Theft of Trade Secrets Act of 2013.
While the bill was apparently inspired by the large volume of intellectual
property theft via cyber-espionage, there is nothing in this bill that makes
the provisions specifically cybersecurity related; it would apply to all forms
of trade secret theft.
Section 2 of this short bill would amend the criminal
statute 18
USC 1832, Theft of Trade Secrets, by adding two new paragraphs. The first
paragraph provides for the use of civil action (law suits) by parties injured
by theft of trade secrets to seek “compensatory damages and injunctive relief
or other equitable relief” {§1832(c)}. It also provides a two year time limit
on pursuing such civil actions; the time being based upon the date of the theft
or the “date of the discovery of the damage”.
The second added paragraph defines the term ‘without
authorization’ used in the existing language of §1832 to ensure that reverse
engineering or independently arriving at the same idea cannot be penalized
under the section. While the clarification is certainly necessary, it does
provide an increased level of complexity in both criminal and civil actions
against theft of trade secrets.
Posts
