LibGuides: IP Law: Trade Secrets: Uniform Trade Secrets Act (1979 and 1985)

Overview

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws adopted the UTSA in 1979 to bring greater uniformity to trade secret law. The commission amended the UTSA in 1985. This version would be the one most states ended up adopting. The UTSA provides a comprehensive set of statutes to govern trade secret protection. The UTSA clarified and expanded upon § 757 from the Restatement (Second) of Torts by providing unitary definitions for key terms such as "trade secret" and "misappropriation." Further, it clarified the available defenses and remedies for trade secret litigation. UTSA § 8 states that the act shall be applied and construed to "effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this [Act] among the states enacting it." Thus, a court in a UTSA state may use case law developed in other UTSA states as relevant authority. See Understanding Trade Secret Law for more information.

Sources

Uniform Trade Secrets Act with 1985 Amendments
Drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
The UTSA was first drafted in 1979 and then amended in 1985. HeinOnline Provides the UTSA with the 1985 Amendments.

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Uniform Trade Secrets Act with 1985 Amendments
Through its KeyCite engine, Westlaw provides the statute's Notes of Decisions, History, Citing References, and Context Analysis. KeyCite is a citator that allows researchers to evaluate the source's relevancy and find similar cases.

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Legislative History

88th Conference Handbook of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and Proceedings of the Annual Conference Meeting 236 (1979)
Handbook of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and Proceedings of the Annual Conference Meeting in its Eighty-Eight Year p 236.

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94th Conference Handbook of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and Proceedings of the Annual Conference Meeting 499 (1985)
Handbook of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and Proceedings of the Annual Conference Meeting in its Ninety-Forth Year, P. 499.

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Proceedings in Committee of the Whole Uniform Trade Secrets Act
August 6-7, 1979
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

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