The Economic Espionage Act made the theft of trade secrets a federal crime. Unlike the other laws on this page, it doesn't tell you how to protect information — it protects you, but only if you can show you took reasonable steps to keep the information secret in the first place.

What it covers

The Act defines trade secrets broadly: all forms of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic or engineering information — formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, processes, customer lists, pricing, and plans — as long as the owner has taken reasonable measures to keep it secret and it has value because it isn't generally known.

Why disposal is part of "reasonable measures"

Courts look at the whole picture when deciding whether information really was a trade secret: confidentiality agreements, access controls, labeling, and how documents were handled and discarded. A pricing sheet or engineering drawing pulled from an unlocked dumpster undercuts the claim that it was ever secret. Information that walked out the door with the trash may not be protected at all.

Penalties for thieves — if you qualify

• Individuals: up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $5 million for theft benefiting a foreign government; up to 10 years and $250,000 or more for domestic theft
• Organizations: fines up to $10 million or three times the value of the stolen secret
• The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 added a federal civil claim so businesses can sue directly

Who should care

Manufacturers, engineering and design firms, agricultural operations, software companies, and any business whose customer list or pricing would hurt in a competitor's hands. In a manufacturing region like Mid-Ohio, that's a lot of businesses.

This page is a plain-English summary for business owners, not legal advice. Talk to your attorney or compliance officer about how the law applies to you.