Motorola’s $407 Million Win Proves Long Arm of Trade Secrets Law

The Seventh Circuit’s affirmance of Motorola’s $407 million trade secrets award from Chinese competitor Hytera Communications Corp. set new precedent confirming the extraterritorial reach of civil trade secrets law.

Motorola Solutions Inc. convinced the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that Congress intended the Defend Trade Secrets Act to cover offenses with even limited US ties. The court found language explicitly allowing extraterritorial application in the Economic Espionage Act, a 1996 criminal trade secrets statute, also applies to the 2016 civil statute in the same chapter of US law.

Although district courts have previously reached that conclusion, the ...