§ 134A.007.Effect on Other Law

The preemption provision, and the line it draws decides what else can be pleaded.

Subsection (a): except as provided by subsection (b), this chapter displaces conflicting tort, restitutionary, and other law of this state providing civil remedies for misappropriation of a trade secret.

So the common law claims are gone to the extent they cover the same ground — a plaintiff cannot recast a misappropriation claim as conversion, unjust enrichment, or unfair competition to escape this chapter’s definitions, standards, or fee rules.

Subsection (b) preserves three categories, and each is doing distinct work:

(1) Contractual remedies, whether or not based upon misappropriation. This is the important one. Confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and employment covenants are enforced as contracts, outside this chapter entirely — with their own limitations period, their own damages, and fees available under the general contract fee statute.

(2) Other civil remedies not based upon misappropriation. A claim arising from the same events but a different wrong — breach of fiduciary duty as to conduct other than the taking, say — survives.

(3) Criminal remedies, whether or not based on misappropriation.

Subsection (d) preserves public information disclosure by a governmental body under the Public Information Act, so the chapter does not become a route to withholding public records.

The practical consequence for pleading is that the contract claim is usually the more valuable one, because it escapes the displacement rule and carries mandatory fees where this chapter does not. Subsection (c) was repealed effective December 4, 2025.