Economic Espionage Act of 1996

Economic Espionage Act of 1996

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA) criminalized theft of trade secrets involved in interstate commerce.FN67 This act amended Title 18 of the United States code to provide, for the first time, federal criminal liability for theft of trade secrets. The EEA is largely based on the Uniform Trade Secret Act (UTSA). Its major difference is that it criminalizes actions that were only civil actions under the UTSA.FN68

The federal act does not preempt state trade secret protection, therefore, many states have enacted statutes that either punish the theft of trade secrets per se or punish unauthorized access to computer systems to download information.FN69