Editing Intellectual property (section)

===Trade secret misappropriation===
{{Main|Trade secret#Misappropriation}}

Trade secret misappropriation is different from violations of other intellectual property laws, since by definition trade secrets are secret, while patents and registered copyrights and trademarks are publicly available. In the United States, trade secrets are protected under state law, and states have nearly universally adopted the [[Uniform Trade Secrets Act]]. The United States also has federal law in the form of the [[Economic Espionage Act of 1996]] ({{usc|18|1831|1839}}), which makes the theft or misappropriation of a trade secret a federal crime. This law contains two provisions criminalizing two sorts of activity. The first, {{uscsub|18|1831|a}}, criminalizes the theft of trade secrets to benefit foreign powers. The second, {{usc|18|1832}}, criminalizes their theft for commercial or economic purposes. The statutory penalties are different for the two offenses. In [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] [[common law]] jurisdictions, confidentiality and trade secrets are regarded as an [[Equity (law)|equitable]] right rather than a [[property]] right but penalties for theft are roughly the same as in the United States.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}