Seven years following the enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) by Congress, the act’s application across federal courts continues to exhibit a striking non-uniformity. Legal professionals anticipated widespread coherence in the application of the Act upon its introduction in 2016, but the reality has been decidedly more complex and varied. Instead of using the DTSA as a mechanism to bypass inconsistencies between differing state laws concerning the misappropriation of trade secrets, federal courts have occasionally incorporated state law requirements into their interpretations and rulings connected to the DTSA.
This unsettling lack of uniformity in the application of the Defend Trade Secrets Act across federal courts is not just a theoretical concern for attorneys, but it also has tangible, practical repercussions for the corporations and law firms that have to navigate these legislative waters. Greater detailed insight into this issue is available in the article written by attorneys Jonathan Barbee, Swara Saraiya, and Lucas Walker, working at MoloLamken, which delves deeper into the varied application of the Act.