Penal Code 499c PC is the California statute that says the theft of a company's trade secret is a crime. The statute sets forth specific definitions for the terms “theft” and “trade secret” under California state law. According to PC 499c(b), “theft” occurs when a person intends to deprive an owner of a trade secret, and either: steals, takes, carries away, or uses a trade secret without authorization; uses fraud to show that the trade secret belongs to him; unlawfully gains access to the trade secret and makes a copy of the same; or, gains access to the trade secret by violating certain relationship boundaries and makes a copy of the same. Under Penal Code 499c(a)(9), a “trade secret” is a type of intellectual property that means: information that has an economic value for not being known to the public, and information that a company takes reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy.