During a speech to the New York City bar this past fall, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara urged, “if you see something, say something.” Bharara Prepared Remarks to NYC Bar Association, (Oct. 22, 2010). This phrase, coined by the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority for its security-awareness campaign, was adopted by Bharara as a call for reporting white-collar crimes, in particular, intellectual property crimes such as the misappropriation of trade secrets. His remarks reflect the Department of Justice’s recent effort to aggressively investigate and prosecute these offenses. DOJ’s initiative provides a powerful weapon for companies seeking to protect their trade secrets, but also raises challenges for corporate counsel.
As part of DOJ’s crackdown on IP crimes, it formed the DOJ Task Force on IP and created positions for 15 assistant U.S. attorneys and 20 FBI special agents. During fiscal year 2010, the FBI opened at least 190 new IP crime investigations, 66 of which concerned trade secret theft. Press Release, “Department of Justice Joins Launch of Administration’s Strategic Plan on Intellectual property Enforcement as Part of Ongoing IP Initiative” (June 22, 2010). Further, DOJ awarded almost $4 million to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in fiscal year 2010 for education, deterrence, enforcement and evidence gathering to prosecute IP crimes in coordination with federal efforts. Press Release, “ Justice Department Announces Nearly $4 Million in Awards to Combat Intellectual Property Crimes” (Sept. 30, 2010).
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