Trade Secrets are also usually protected under state law and differ slightly among each state. For example, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Chapter 26 of the Virginia Code, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, grants state protection over Virginia Trade Secrets and defines Trade Secrets to include information, including but not limited to, a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that:
It is imperative to consult an attorney about Trade Secret rights as not taking the correct precautionary steps in protecting a Trade Secret may and can relatively easily result in the loss of protection. This may mean not simply the loss of any derived compensation of the Trade Secret but also the loss of any intellectual property rights in general.
Trade Secrets are federally protected under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, specifically, Title 18, Chapter 90. The act defines Trade Secrets to include all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information. This is including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically, or in writing if:
Theft or misappropriation of a Trade Secret and the remedies the law allows are precisely defined and protected under federal and state law.
Trade Secrets are federally protected under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, specifically Title 18, Chapter 90, which punishes the theft of a Trade Secret and defines such theft as whoever, with intent to convert a trade secret, that is related to or included in a product that is produced for or placed in interstate or foreign commerce, to the economic benefit of anyone other than the owner thereof, and intending or knowing that the offense will, injure any owner of that trade secret, knowingly:
Furthermore, any organization that commits any offense described in subsection (a) shall be fined not more than $5,000,000.
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