The FBI on Economic Espionage
Federal Economic Espionage Act Overview
Corporate Law Report: Economic Espionage Act, Top FCPA Enforcement Actions, Trademark Audits, and More
Last week, the Seventh Circuit heard arguments in Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corp. concerning when, if at all, civil claims under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) may extend to extraterritorial...more
On December 5, the Seventh Circuit in Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corp. will hear high-stakes arguments concerning the application of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) to trade secrets taken...more
Economic espionage sounds more like the stuff of a spy thriller than a day-to-day concern for business. Not so, as it turns out. To learn more we sat down with the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division Unit Chief Matthew Charles...more
Employers often go to great lengths to protect company documents and communications concerning and discussing confidential trade secret information. But what happens when employees leave, bring a whistleblower claim, and the...more
For almost nine years, Haitao Xiang, a Chinese national and U.S. resident, had worked for Monsanto, Co in St. Louis as a research application engineer specializing in hyperspectral imaging technology. As with most jobs of...more
A widely used method of software protection is through trade secret law under the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) (18 U.S.C. §§ 1831-1839), which was enacted in 1996 and significantly amended on May 11, 2016, by the Defend Trade...more
Most intellectual property offenses are calculated and sentenced under U.S.S.G. Sections 2B5.3 and 2B1.1. Section 2B5.3 covers most intellectual property offenses, including copyright, trademark, counterfeit, bootleg,...more
The Economic Espionage Act (EEA), codified in 18 U.S.C. § 1831-1839, makes the theft of or trafficking in trade secrets for foreign governments, instrumentalities, or agents a criminal act. Prior to passing the EEA, the Trade...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss an indictment, charging four Chinese companies with violations of the criminal provisions of the Economic Espionage Act...more
Amid escalating tensions between the United States and China over the last few years, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has formally prioritized criminal prosecutions of Chinese nationals and companies, and...more
Report on Supply Chain Compliance 3, no. 18 (September 17, 2020) - In June of 2020, Trustwave SpiderLabs, a cybersecurity firm, announced it had found malware on tax software downloaded by a client. The malware was embedded...more
Companies often consider trade secrets to be their crown jewels. But in the digital age, where copying and sending files is as easy as one click, protecting trade secrets has become even more challenging. Losing control over...more
Federal authorities have recently described the threat of economic espionage from foreign entities as one of the greatest threats to the economic vitality of the United States, and this has led to an increase in...more
Earlier this month, a Northern District of Illinois jury returned a verdict in favor of Motorola for over $700 million after a trial in which Motorola alleged that Hytera hired three engineers away from Motorola’s Malaysian...more
On March 5, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a final judgment on a jury verdict of approximately $764.6 million in a high profile trade secret misappropriation case — Motorola...more
Loyal readers are familiar with the DOJ’s “China Initiative,” launched in November 2018 to prosecute the theft of U.S. trade secrets by or for Chinese interests. Attorney General Barr reaffirmed the DOJ’s commitment “to...more
An ongoing, headline-grabbing trade secret theft prosecution against a Chinese spy is also quietly presenting a, say, disquieting attempt by prosecutors to stretch the law on what it is required to plead and prove. On the...more
There’s some surprise market wheeling and dealing afoot this morning. The Hong Kong stock exchange has offered to buy its London counterpart as part of a deal valued at $37 billion that would connect “the established...more
Trade secrets can be stolen at any point, and such theft can be prosecuted by the Department of Justice. This is evident in recently unsealed charges brought against a software engineer who stole source code from his United...more
Caramel Crisp LLC, the owner of Garrett Popcorn Shops (“Garrett”), the renowned Chicago-based purveyor of deliciously flavored popcorn, recently filed suit in federal court in Chicago against its former director of research...more
Criminal trade secret prosecutions are on the rise nationwide and in the Northern District of California, especially cases relating to alleged theft by Chinese nationals and entities. According to a 2017 report by the White...more
On November 1, 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “China Initiative” with the objective of countering perceived national security threats to the United States from...more
Theft of trade secrets typically spurs civil actions against the offender, but theft of trade secrets can also be prosecuted criminally under the Economic Espionage Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1831 et seq. (the “Act”) and other related...more
As the saying goes, hard cases make bad law. And it certainly looked improper when Sergey Aleynikov downloaded high-frequency trading ("HFT") source code as he was leaving his job as a Goldman Sachs programmer, at least to...more
On May 3, 2018, the New York Court of Appeals held that data copied onto a server constitutes a tangible reproduction for purposes of liability under the New York Penal Code, marking the end of Sergey Aleynikov’s nine year...more