Economic Espionage Act of 1996
The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (18 U.S.C. §§ 1831-1839) makes the theft or misappropriation of a trade secret a federal crime.
This law contains two provisions criminalizing two sorts of activity. The first, 18 U.S.C. § 1831(a), criminalizes the theft of trade secrets to benefit foreign powers; the second, 18 U.S.C. § 1832, criminalizes their theft for commercial or economic purposes. (The statutory penalties are different for the two offenses.)