Texas recently adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, making it effective on September 1, 2013. S.B. 953, 83rd Leg., Reg. Sess., § 4 (Tex. 2013) (the “Act”). The Act has been adopted by 46 other states, plus the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. The Act creates a new chapter 134A in the Civil Practice & Remedies Code that applies to “the misappropriation of a trade secret made on or after the effective date.” Id. at § 3. Thus, pre-Act law still applies in cases where the alleged misappropriation occurred before September 1, 2013, even if the case is filed on or after that date. The Act materially changes prior Texas trade secret law, which combined the common law and a statutory scheme including a portion of the Texas Penal Code.

Texas Law Before the Act -

Before the Act’s effective date, there were two sources of law available to a party who believed that its trade secret had been misappropriated: (1) the common law of trade secret misappropriation and (2) the Texas Theft Liability Act.