by Dennis Crouch
A new petition for certiorari asks the Supreme Court to resolve a critical question about the global reach of U.S. trade secret law: Does the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) allow American companies to recover damages for trade secret misappropriation that occurs outside the United States? The case, Hytera Communications Corp. v. Motorola Solutions, Inc., stems from a massive jury verdict against Chinese radio manufacturer Hytera for stealing Motorola's trade secrets and source code. [Read the Petition]. The district court awarded damages for both copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation -- with most of the money coming from Hytera's foreign sales. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit split on the two forms of IP - finding that the non-us-originated damages were fine for DTSA violations, but prohibited under U.S. Copyright law. Hytera petitioned to the Supreme Court only on the DTSA issue.
