Senator Coons applauds new strategy for combatting trade secret theft

Senator Coons welcomed an announcement last week from U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) Victoria Espinel on the Obama Administration’s new strategy to mitigate the theft of U.S. trade secrets.  

Trade secrets are advancements that enable a business to improve a product or make it more quickly or more efficiently. For example, the weaving technology that allows Delaware’s own DuPont to turn strands of fiber into Kevlar body armor is a trade secret.

IPEC's development of this strategy reflects the diversity of American interests impacted by trade secret theft and involved the collaboration of the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, State, Treasury, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Office of the United States Trade Representative. 

As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chris has been working to protect American intellectual property and prevent the theft of trade secrets, which cost U.S. companies billions of dollars each year and threaten their ability to innovate and compete globally.

The Administration’s strategy recognizes that trade secrets play a crucial role in the U.S. economy and takes steps to guard against threats to American innovation and competitiveness, whether they come from foreign companies or foreign governments. The strategy calls for enhanced domestic law enforcement operations, industry-led efforts to develop best practices to protect trade secrets and a review of our existing intellectual property laws to determine whether Congress should make any changes to enhance enforcement. 

Chris co-sponsored legislation President Obama signed into law, the Foreign and Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act, to bolster criminal penalties for economic espionage.  He also plans to introduce legislation to create a federal civil private right of action for trade secret theft to provide businesses with a uniform, reliable, and predictable way to protect their valuable trade secrets anywhere in the country.