Law360, New York ( December 19, 2014, 10:04 AM EST) -- The Uniform Trade Secrets Act protects "trade secrets" — information that grants its owner a competitive advantage and of which the owner has taken reasonable steps to maintain its confidentiality[1] — from misappropriation. In order to create uniformity and predictability for businesses operating across state boundaries, all states but three — Massachusetts, New York and North Carolina — have adopted a version of the UTSA. Nearly all of these versions of the UTSA preempt common law tort claims of trade secret misappropriation,[2] but state courts have split on whether the UTSA also preempts such claims relating to "confidential information" that do not meet the definition of a trade secret. Regardless of where your state falls, employers can and should take steps to protect both trade secrets and confidential information....