Hytera Petitions Supreme Court to End DTSA’s Extraterritorial Reach

At a Glance

• On January 2, 2025, Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd. (Hytera) petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd. that the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) applies to conduct outside the United States. 
• Hytera is seeking to reverse the Seventh Circuit’s decision that, in certain circumstances, the DTSA reaches outside the United States and allows a trade secret plaintiff to recover a defendant’s worldwide sales. 
• The Seventh Circuit’s decision resulted in affirming an award of hundreds of millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages under the DTSA.

Summary

In July 2024, the Seventh Circuit concluded that the DTSA can reach all of a defendant’s worldwide sales caused by the misappropriation, so long as — in the words of 18 U.S.C. § 1837(2) — “an act in furtherance” of the misappropriation was committed in the United States. This decision confirms that federal courthouse doors are open to trade secret plaintiffs even when much (or even most) of the wrongful conduct occurred outside the United States — and that trade secret plaintiffs may recover damages even on infringing sales outside the United States. The extraterritorial reach of the DTSA distinguishes it from other areas of intellectual property law which do not reach outside the United States.

Faegre Drinker attorneys have covered the Seventh Circuit’s decision in prior alerts:

• Seventh Circuit Confirms Extraterritorial Reach of the Defend Trade Secrets Act
• Trade Secret Remedies After Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd.

Takeaway

Hytera has petitioned the Supreme Court seeking a decision that the DTSA does not reach conduct outside the United States. But unless the Motorola decision is reversed, a trade secret plaintiff can bring its claim against a foreign defendant in the United States even when most of the wrongful conduct occurs outside the United States, so long as there is some act in furtherance of the misappropriation that occurred in the United States.