Opinion ID: 870659
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Background of the UTSA and HUTSA

Text: The UTSA was drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (Commissioners) in 1979 and amended in 1985. UTSA (amended 1985) 14 Uniform Laws Annotated (U.L.A.) 529, 530 (historical notes) (2005). The Commissioners gave the rationale behind drafting the UTSA as follows: Notwithstanding the commercial importance of state trade secret law to interstate business, this law has not developed satisfactorily. In the first place, its development is uneven ... Secondly, even in states in which there has been significant litigation, there is undue uncertainty concerning the parameters of trade secret protection, and the appropriate remedies for misappropriation of a trade secret. One commentator observed: Under technological and economic pressures, industry continues to rely on trade secret protection despite the doubtful and confused status of both common law and statutory remedies. Clear, uniform trade secret protection is urgently needed .... Comment, Theft of Trade Secrets: The Need for a Statutory Solution, 120 U. Pa. L.Rev. 378, 380-81 (1971). Id. at 531. To this end, the UTSA created a model statutory cause of action for misappropriation of trade secrets. Id. The UTSA defined trade secret [5] and misappropriation [6] , id. § 1 at 537-38, established a three-year statute of limitations, id. § 6 at 649, and provided for damages, id. § 3 at 633-34, and injunctive relief, id. § 2 at 619. The Commissioners intended that the UTSA be applied and construed to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this Act among states enacting it. Id. § 8 at 656 (brackets omitted). The HUTSA became law in 1989. See 1989 Haw. Sess. Laws Act 221, § 1 at 523-25. The HUTSA incorporates nearly verbatim the UTSA's definitions of trade secret and misappropriation, as well as its remedies, statute of limitations and preemption provisions. HRS §§ 482B-2 to -4, -7, -8 (2008). Though the HUTSA does not contain a uniformity provision of its own, HRS section 1-24 states that [a]ll provisions of uniform acts adopted by the State shall be so interpreted and construed as to effectuate their general purpose to make uniform the laws of the states and territories which enact them. Id. § 1-24 (2009).