By Lauren Mack On May 11, 2016, President Obama publicly signed into law the Defend Trade Secrets Act (the “DTSA”), a long anticipated piece of legislation that creates a federal cause of action for trade secret misappropriation claims. Unlike claims of copyright, trademark, and patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation claims could not be brought by plaintiffs in federal court until now. What Are Trade Secrets? …
Debate Over Accredited Investor Definition Gaining Momentum
Discussions surrounding the accredited investor definition have crescendoed of late, demonstrating a sharp divide in opinion among regulators. On one side lies the North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”), the lobbying group that represents the state securities administrators. The NASAA published a comment letter on the definition on May 25, 2016, evidencing a highly conservative approach.[1] The group relies on investor protection concerns in calling …
SEC Issues Notice of Intent to Raise Net Worth Threshold for Qualified Clients
By William Kelly and Simon Riveles On May 24, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published a notice of its intent to issue an order increasing the net worth threshold for “qualified clients,” as defined in Rule 205-3 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”). The Advisers Act generally prohibits SEC-registered investment advisers from charging any client a performance-based …