Here at the Law Office of Vincent Miletti, Esq. and the home of the #UnusuallyMotivated movement, we take pride as a resilient and dependable legal services firm, providing such services in both a traditional and online, web-based environment. With mastered specialization in areas such as Employment and Labor Law, Intellectual Property (IP) (trademark, copyright, patent), Entertainment Law, and e-Commerce (Supply Chain, Distribution, Fulfillment, Standard Legal & Regulatory), we provide a range of legal services including, but not limited to traditional legal representation (litigation, mediation, arbitration, opinion letters and advisory), non-litigated business legal representation and legal counsel, and unique, online legal services such as smart forms, mobile training, and legal marketing & development.

Still, here at Miletti Law®, we feel obligated to enlighten, educate, and create awareness about how these issues and many others affect our unusually motivated® readers and/or their businesses. Accordingly, to achieve this goal, we have committed ourselves to creating authoritative, trustworthy, and distinctive content, which looks to educate and deliver in a manner that only Miletti Law® can. Usually, this content is featured as videos posted on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtvUryqkkMAJLwrLu2BBt6w and blogs that are published on our website WWW.MILETTILAW.COM. With the ball in your court, yours is an effortless obligation to subscribe to the channel and sign up for the Newsletter on the website, which encompasses the best way to ensure that you stay in the loop and benefit from the knowledge bombs we drop here!

As the authoritative force in Employment Law, we are committed to providing you with authoritative, up-to-date, and trustworthy content through which you can draw enlightening information to stay ahead of the game in your business. In this regard, this blog is Part VIII of our multipart series on the “Enforcement of the Protection of Employers’ Confidential Information & Trade Secrets.” In Part VII of this series, we moved the discussion forward with an overview of “The Economic Espionage Act & the Application of the DTSA Overseas.” To keep the discussion going and ensure you are educated, we have provided you with key information concerning “The International Trade Commission (ITC), Section 337, & the DTSA” in this blog, which is Part VIII of the series.

The International Trade Commission (ITC), Section 337, & the DTSA

Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1337, an employer may adopt, before the ITC and via a Section 337 investigation, the DTSA (Defend Trade Secrets Act) as the statute of choice to address and remedy misconducts of trade secret loss or misappropriation. Including the mandate to prohibit the importation of articles into the U.S., the ITC is tasked with addressing import-related unfair trade practices as a quasi-judicial administrative agency. Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1337(a)(1)(A), when making a Section 337 complaint regarding the misappropriation of trade secrets, the complainant is generally required to demonstrate that:

  • A domestic industry related to the imported article has been injured-
  • A trade secret has been misappropriated as issue-and-
  • An article was imported into the U.S. in relation to unfair business acts such as theft and/or misappropriation of trade secrets or unfair competition techniques.

Ideally, a complainant is not required to show that an alleged act of trade secret misappropriation took place in the U.S. in a Section 337 investigation. Furthermore, while a final adjudication is reached within 16 months after the investigation was initiated, Section 337 investigations are known to move very fast. It is recommended that an employer should consider bringing a DTSA action before the ITC where a theft/loss/misappropriation of trade secrets relates to articles being imported into the U.S. and the employer (a permanent resident or citizen of the U.S.) has been such a victim overseas.

In Part IX of this series, we will move the discussion forward by providing you with an overview of the “Trade Secret Misappropriation Claims under State & Common Law.”

As usual, while you should strive to be #UnusuallyMotivated, stay tuned for more education, training, and legal guidance. In the interim, reach out to us with questions and/or comments on our website at the Contact Us page!

Always rising above the bar,

Isaac T.,

Legal Writer & Author.