Senate Bill S4162 would add Article 17-B Uniform Trade Secrets Act to the General Business Law. The Uniform Trade Secrets Act provides statutory rights and remedies to parties who have had trade secrets misappropriated. It provides definitions of a “trade secret”, “misappropriation” and “improper means.” Injunctive relief may be granted for actual or threatened misappropriation of a trade secret. Injunctions restraining future use and disclosures of misappropriated trade secrets are permitted. Claimants may recover damages for any loss sustained by virtue of the misappropriation of their trade secret. Monetary damages may include the actual damages caused by the misappropriation and unjust benefit to the misappropriator. More than one person can be entitled to trade secret protection with respect to the same information. Reverse engineering of a lawfully obtained product in order to discover a trade secret is permitted. A three-year statute of limitations for an action for misappropriation of a trade secret.
The bill also provides that Section 8303-a of the Civil Practice Law and Rules (Costs upon frivolous claims and counterclaims in actions to recover
damages for personal injury, injury to property or wrong death) will not apply to actions for trade secret misappropriations governed by Article
17-B of the General Business Law.
Current law regarding trade protection is limited to remedies available in common law.
The ability to protect commercially valuable ideas is essential in today’s economy. Protection of such ideas may be obtained through the federal patent law or through trade secret law. Unlike patent law, the law of trade secrets has been a common law development. It therefore lacks uniformity and fails to adequately deal with modern trade secret issues. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, along with the American Law Institute, developed the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. It provides a comprehensive law for the protection of trade secrets against a variety of misappropriations. Since its completion in
1979, 41 states and the District of Columbia have adopted it. The Act codifies the basic principles of common law trade secret protection by integrating the generally accepted principles of trade secret law. It clarifies the rights and remedies available to owners of trade secrets by granting both injunctive relief and damages when a trade secret has been misappropriated. The Act also eliminates the ambiguities and uncertainties of the common law by providing precise definitions of fundamental concepts. Uniformity and certainty are necessary to facilitate national commerce. Adoption of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act will
encourage the development of high-tech industries such as electronics, computers and bio-tech in New York State.
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