Last May, I wrote about an amendment to the Texas Uniform Trade Secret Act (“TUTSA”) that would become effective on September 1, 2017. Now that the amendment is in effect, I looked back at one of the changes to the statute caused by the amendment that should bolster trade secret licensees’ efforts to assert theft of trade secret claims. The counter-argument would be that only the owner of the trade secret is entitled to assert the claim.
Prior to the 2017 amendment, TUTSA did not include a definition of “owner.” However, the statute did include several references to owners of trade secrets.
The 2017 amendment added a definition of “owner” that includes within the definition someone who possesses the “right to enforce rights” in the trade secret. Therefore, if the original owner of a trade secret authorizes a licensee to enforce the trade secret, the licensee falls within the new definition of “owner.”
photo credit: Thomas Hawk Speak Until the Dust Settles in the Same Specific Place via photopin (license)
