The theft of trade secrets is now a federal crime

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (the EEA) for the first time makes trade secret theft a federal crime, subject to penalties including fines, forfeiture, and imprisonment, and greatly expands the federal government's power to investigate economic espionage cases. Trade secret theft is broadly defined to cover all acts of trade secret appropriation without authorization. The EEA was intended to fill gaps in the federal law and to create a national scheme to protect U.S. proprietary business information. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.