When the FBI Comes Calling…®

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (continued)

According to Interpol, "Intellectual property … crime is the generic term for a wide range of counterfeiting and piracy offences." Interpol, Intellectual Property Crime, available here (last visited June 10, 2005). Such offenses include trademark, patent and copyright infringement, which have risen dramatically over the past decade, in part due to the "ready availability of modern technology to counterfeiters, who systematically use it to infringe trademarks and breach copyrights. Counterfeiting is so widespread that few legitimately manufactured goods are not copied in one form or another and the rights of the owners infringed." Id. Interpol sees intellectual property crime in many was as organized crime due to its size, and as such it "provides national police forces in member countries and industries affected by counterfeiting with a central point of reference on the subject. It also facilitates and co-ordinates international enforcement action against transnational and organized criminals involved in IP crime." Id.

Economic Espionage (continued)

18 U.S.C. § 1837 (2005).
This chapter (18 U.S.C. §§ 1831 et seq.) also applies to conduct occurring outside the United States if

• the offender is a natural person who is a citizen or permanent resident alien of the United States, or an organization organized under the laws of the United States or a State or political subdivision thereof; or
• an act in furtherance of the offense was committed in the United States.

Definitions
18 U.S.C. § 1839 (2005).

• the term "foreign instrumentality" means any agency, bureau, ministry, component, institution, association, or any legal, commercial, or business organization, corporation, firm, or entity that is substantially owned, controlled, sponsored, commanded, managed, or dominated by a foreign government;
• the term "foreign agent" means any officer, employee, proxy, servant, delegate, or representative of a foreign government;
• the term "trade secret" means all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically, or in writing if—
  • the owner thereof has taken reasonable measures to keep such information secret; and
  • the information derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable through proper means by, the public; and
• the term "owner", with respect to a trade secret, means the person or entity in whom or in which rightful legal or equitable title to, or license in, the trade secret is reposed.

Theft of Intellectual Property Continued-->