Misconstruing Whistleblower Immunity Under the Defend Trade Secrets Act

Authors

Peter S. Menell, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2017

Abstract

In crafting the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA), Congress went beyond the federalization of state trade secret protection to tackle a broader social justice problem: the misuse of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) to discourage reporting of illegal activity in a variety of areas. The past few decades have witnessed devastating government contracting abuses, regulatory violations, and deceptive financial schemes that have hurt the public and cost taxpayers and investors billions of dollars. Congress recognized that immunizing whistleblowers from the cost and risk of trade secret liability for providing information to the Government could spur law enforcement. But could this goal be accomplished without jeopardizing legitimate trade secret protection?

Publication Citation

1 Nev. L.J. Forum 92 (2017).

Recommended Citation

Menell, Peter S. (2017) "Misconstruing Whistleblower Immunity Under the Defend Trade Secrets Act," Nevada Law Journal Forum: Vol. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/nljforum/vol1/iss1/4