It has become a fact of economic life for U.S. businesses that products are simply less expensive to manufacture abroad and import back into the United States for sale. This fact has compelled many U.S. companies to outsource their manufacturing and other processes to companies operating in countries with less regulation, lower wages and cheaper raw materials.
But with these lower costs come significant competitive risks. U.S. companies are disclosing their trade secrets the processes, practices or formulas that give these companies a competitive advantage to foreign companies that can manufacture the U.S. companies’ products more inexpensively. This disclosure, together with the inherent difficulties in overseeing a foreign operation, provides a fertile field for misappropriation of U.S. companies’ trade secrets. Such misappropriation is happening every day in places like China, India and the Philippines.
