Attorney Fee Recovery Through the Uniform Trade Secrets Act

The Uniform Trades Secret Act (“UTSA”), which has been adopted with variations by almost every state, provides for attorney fee recoveries under the circumstances described below. For illustration purposes, I will use Pennsylvania’s adoption of this statute, which starts at 12 Pa. C. S. § 5301.

The Pennsylvania’s UTSA displaces any conflicting common law tort based causes of action or remedies for the misappropriation of trade secrets. (In effect, it incorporates the theories of liability and provides a uniform structure with respect to the tort remedies.) It does not displace contract based remedies for the misappropriation of trade secretes. The Act provides for damages and injunctive relief in cases where a misappropriation of trade secrets is proven. Both the terms “misappropriation” and “trade secrets” are defined in the Act at Section 5302. Exemplary (i.e. punitive) damages may also be awarded, if warranted, in amounts of up to 2x compensatory damages.

With respect to attorney fees, the statute provides that the prevailing party may recover its fees as follows: (1) the defendant may recover its attorney fees if it is found that the matter was initiated in bad faith, or that defendant’s motion to terminate an injunction was resisted in bad faith; and (2) the plaintiff may recover attorney fees if it is found that the misappropriation was willful and malicious, or that defendant’s motion to terminate an injunction was made in bad faith. (12 P. C. S. 5305.) Even if the overall case is decided by a jury, the judge will decide matters of attorney fee recovery.


The information contained in this blog is not legal advice and should not be relied on as such. For legal advice or for answers to specific questions, please contact the blog's author.