SCIP policy analysis: Competitive Intelligence and the Economic Espionage Act

Abstract

Seeking competitive information in a legal and ethical manner is an integral component of healthy competition. The EEA was enacted to enable federal law enforcement to investigate and prosecute acts of economic espionage. It adds federal criminal penalties to activities which were already illegal under state law. The EEA does not interfere with the way corporations are entitled to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace by seeking information on a competitor in a legal manner. That the EEA does not materially affect competitive intelligence (CI) does not mean that CI professionals need not be concerned about trade secret law. On the contrary, the EEA has drawn attention to the necessity of insuring that CI activities are within the parameters of trade secret law. An understanding of trade secret law and the EEA indicates that CI professionals who have been and will continue to conduct their business in an ethical manner and consistent with established trade secret law need not be concerned about the EEA debate. Companies that have curtailed their CI efforts out of a misplaced fear of the EEA have awarded a competitive advantage to companies whose CI activities continue unimpeded. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.