Obama Administration Seeks Public Comments on Legislative Changes to Protect Against Trade Secret Theft and Economic Espionage

As we previously reported, the Obama Administration released the Administration Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets, setting its “five point plan” for combating trade secret theft and economic espionage, which provided for a review within 120 days of whether legislative changes are needed.

Pursuant to that “five point plan,” late last month, the Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator published a Notice in the Federal Register soliciting public comments for an Administration legislative review related to economic espionage and trade secret theft.

The request seeks written submissions regarding “any recommendations for legislative changes that would enhance enforcement against, or reduce the risk of, the misappropriation of trade secrets for the benefit of foreign competitors or foreign governments.” As previously reported, one possible legislative change may include providing a federal civil cause of action for trade secret theft and possible changes to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Submissions are due on or before April 22, 2013 and should be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, docket number IPEC-2013-XXXX, and should contain the term “Trade Secret Theft Strategy Legislative Review.”

If you are interested in making a submission, please consider contacting your Arent Fox attorney.