Enlisting Government Help to Protect Your Trade Secrets
5 01 2018“I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Yeah, right.[1]
Most businesses think protecting their intellectual property is their own responsibility, and it is. But what about when your intellectual property rights are violated by an evildoer? Who are you going to call? While your obvious choice will be the law firm sponsoring this blog, you might also be able to get help from your local prosecutor.
Both State Attorneys General and Federal Prosecutors have tools at their disposal that let them bring the full force of the government to your side—when they are motivated to do so. Speaking at a State Fraud & Prevention Summit in Atlanta recently, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced how his office is available to take action on cybersecurity and data breach fraud cases, and he even pointed to several Assistant AGs in the audience who were there and ready to help.[2] Carr said his state’s emphasis on protecting data privacy and security is enhanced by the U.S. Army recently announcing that its new Cyber Command Headquarters (ARCYBER) will be located in Georgia.[3] Other states have similarly dedicated AGs ready to help, and sometimes you can even get local prosecutors to take interest in your case.
At the federal level, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has a “Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section” (CCIPS) specifically devoted to combating white collar computer and intellectual property crimes. Indeed, the DOJ has several statutes at its disposal to combat such crimes. They include the Economic Espionage Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1831, the Theft of Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1832, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030, and the new Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”). These laws provide punishments that include fines in the millions of dollars (which can be a multiple of the value of trade secrets stolen) and prison sentences ranging from 10–20 years to life under certain circumstances.
The content in this post was found at https://www.tradesecretslaw.com/2017/04/articles/intellectual-property/enlisting-government-help-to-protect-your-trade-secrets/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
