Senator Kohl Wants to Beef Up Criminal Penalties for Trade Secret Theft

The Milwaukee Business Journal is reporting that U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl is sponsoring a federal bill to increase penalties for stealing company trade secrets or other proprietary information. The bill would increase the maximum sentence for stealing trade secrets from 15 years to 20 years. The bill also orders the federal Sentencing Commission to consider increasing penalties for economic espionage.

Kohl’s bill, dubbed the Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act, builds off of earlier recommendations made by federal agencies, including the departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, Justice and State.