What is the Economic Espionage Act of 1996? How does the act define a trade secret?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

One particular law that exists to promote economic and national security in the U.S. is the
Economic Espionage Act of 1996 . The Economic Espionage Act (EEA) was created to deter and
prosecute domestic and foreign efforts toward the theft of trade secrets and economic espionage
activities. To be considered a trade secret theft under the EEA, the following criteria must exist:
(1) intangible and/or tangible forms of information are protected; (2) the owner took objectively
reasonable measures to protect and keep the information secret; and (3) the owner derives some
type of independent economic value from the trade secret from not being publicly known. Section
1831 prosecutions address economic espionage where it must be proven that a foreign
government or one of its instrumentalities (a foreign company the country assisted) committed the
crime. Section 1832 violations deal with the theft of trade secrets where a person or company
intended to convert the trade secret information for economic benefit for anyone other than the
actual owner.