House Judiciary Committee Passes Bill To Protect Innovation

Congressman Doug Collins’ (R-GA-09) office sent out a press release concerning the House Judiciary Committee’s passing S. 1890, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 out of its committee.  Congressman Collins sponsored the House version.  You can read the full presser below:

Today, the House Judiciary Committee marked up S. 1890, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. The bill, the House version of which was introduced by Congressman Collins, passed out of committee by a voice vote. Congressman Collins issued the following statement after the markup:

“Innovation, creativity, and hard work have made American companies successful and competitive in the global market,” said Congressman Collins. “However, inadequacy of current law and increasingly sophisticated methods to steal trade secrets have left American companies vulnerable. Trade secrets are the life blood of many companies and when they are stolen there is an almost immediate loss of value, which threatens American jobs and discourages research, investments, and competition. This legislation, which has more than 150 cosponsors in the House, takes steps to fix that problem. It will provide a uniform federal remedy and allow companies to preserve evidence, prevent disclosure, and authorize injunctions and damages. Under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, trade secrets will be afforded protections that apply to other forms of intellectual property such as copyrights, patents, and trademarks. The bill provides important protections that will help keep jobs here at home and discourage theft of intellectual property.

I thank Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers, and Reps. Nadler and Jeffries for their support and leadership on this bill,  and applaud Senators Hatch and Coons for their tireless efforts in the Senate to move this bill forward and get us to this point. I am encouraged that Leader McCarthy has scheduled the Defend Trade Secrets Act for floor consideration next week, and I look forward to voting for this bill in the full House.

“I want to applaud Congressman Doug Collins for his steadfast leadership on this important issue,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte. “Trade secrets are an increasingly important form of intellectual property that have become more vulnerable to theft as a result of our globalized economy.  Protecting the vital proprietary information of U.S. companies is essential to American competiveness, job creation, and ensuring a robust economy.”

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