The law is considered one of the most important changes to intellectual property law in decades, as trade secrets were previously the province of state courts. Tech companies, in particular, welcomed the new law. And attorneys say the long-awaited federal legislation can provide for powerful remedies to companies that find themselves scrambling to protect the disclosure of all sorts of proprietary data. (You can read the text of the law here).
'This is very significant for intellectual property,' says Robert Milligan, who co-chairs the trade secrets practice group at Seyfarth Shaw. 'For the first time, trade secrets claims, like copyrights, trademarks and patents, can be be heard in federal court.'
