• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

U.S. Senate expected to pass trade secrets bill

JANFU

Land by the Gulf Stream
Supporting Member
DP Veteran
Monthly Donator
Joined
Dec 27, 2014
Messages
59,034
Reaction score
38,583
Location
Best Coast Canada
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Slightly Liberal
U.S. Senate expected to pass trade secrets bill - The Globe and Mail

The U.S. Senate is poised to pass a bill on Monday that would give companies greater legal protections for their commercial secrets and would allow them for the first time to sue in federal court if they are stolen.

The Defend Trade Secrets Act has significant bipartisan support with 65 cosponsors, led by Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, and Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons.

Theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets, costs U.S. businesses more than $300-billion (U.S.) a year, according to a 2013 report by the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, which was made up of a bipartisan group of high-ranking former U.S. officials.
Thoughts are?
 
We need to figure out how to enforce it worldwide to include other countries, especially China..
 
Oh good, because the civil courts have all kinds of time on their hands for more lawsuits.

A patchwork of laws thru the different States, makes sense to have one standard??
 
A patchwork of laws thru the different States, makes sense to have one standard??

Not entirely sure this addresses that.
 
Not entirely sure this addresses that.

One standard, for the country, instead of cheery picking where and what State you launch a suit in.
 
One standard, for the country, instead of cheery picking where and what State you launch a suit in.

They can still do that, now they just have the option of federal court as well
 
One standard, for the country, instead of cheery picking where and what State you launch a suit in.

You are missing the point, this bill does not do that. What it does is grant greater opportunity to file suit in Federal Court. This arguably strengthens law, this is not new or original civil law controls nor does this remove State Court handling entirely.
 
They can still do that, now they just have the option of federal court as well

And a company being sued at State levels can request to have it moved to Federal Court?? Yes
 
You are missing the point, this bill does not do that. What it does is grant greater opportunity to file suit in Federal Court. This arguably strengthens law, this is not new or original civil law controls nor does this remove State Court handling entirely.

I just picked up on that from a previous post by Crovax.
 
And a company being sued at State levels can request to have it moved to Federal Court?? Yes

Once again something that could have been done before this bill
 
Once again something that could have been done before this bill

I understood this was a new legal procedure unavailable prior to?
 
This is a huge victory for patent trolls everywhere. Expect frivolous lawsuits like you wouldn't believe.

Investment firms are sprouting all over the place to get a piece of that frivolous lawsuit action!

I agree. IP trolls, sometimes called patent trolls ( companies that exist for the sole purpose of filing law suits with companies and corporations claiming that the IP troll company owns the IP that that company is using ) are costing companies a lot of money.
often the company pays them off as its cheaper than fighting them in court.
 
I understood this was a new legal procedure unavailable prior to?

From the article

"Trade secret theft is already a federal crime, but according to the bill’s sponsors, the U.S. Department of Justice lacks the resources to prosecute such crimes."
 
From the article

"Trade secret theft is already a federal crime, but according to the bill’s sponsors, the U.S. Department of Justice lacks the resources to prosecute such crimes."

Thank you
 
We need to figure out how to enforce it worldwide to include other countries, especially China..

I agree. China is a habitual offender, especially with our Defense companies.
 
If Sen. Orrin Hatch sponsored the bill...then he's probably acting in the best interest of the pharmaceutical companies, not consumers. Big Pharma uses government funding for research and then patents it to squelch competition and keep drug costs high. This in turn slows or stops research for new cures and new drugs.

Speaking of patent troll...Martin Skirelli comes to mind. He's the guy that bought the rights to a drug that fights AIDS and raised the price from $13 a pill to $750. So basically, this bill would just make it easier and less expensive for a patent troll like Skirelli to sue anyone in federal court who tried to copy or use the research from his AIDs drug to make a more affordable generic version or to improve on the drug.

The other abusers of patents are corporations like Monsanto that put patents on seeds or even a natural food source that was first created by nature. (IE: corn, wheat, rice, etc.) They're notorious for suing small farmers whose corn crop was accidentally cross pollenated by Monsanto's patented GM corn and putting them out of business.

Although, it's purpose was probably more of a political stunt than a meaningful change to the existing patent laws on the books...I think it is a bad bill and will hurt consumers and competition in the market place.
 
Back
Top Bottom