PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 13, 2019
Deterring Espionage by Foreign Entities through National Defense Act of 2019 or the DEFEND Act
This bill makes changes to provisions governing federal civil claims for trade secret misappropriation.
Specifically, it does the following:
increases punitive damages for a victim,
extends the statute of limitations for filing a claim, and
allows claims for conduct that occurs outside the United States if the offense causes substantial economic harm in the United States.
People & committees
Sen. Harris, Kamala D. [D-CA] · D–CA
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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