Why Companies Should Care About Increasing Criminal Enforcement of Trade Secret Theft
When it comes to trade secrets, companies should understand that the federal government is increasingly pursuing criminal prosecution, warns Procopio partner Mindy Morton.
“Criminal prosecution of trade secrets is nothing new,” she writes in a post on the Procopio website. “Trade secrets plaintiffs should always consider whether to involve the state or federal authorities in their investigations. In the past, however, the conventional wisdom was that it was difficult to interest district attorneys or U.S. attorneys in business disputes involving trade secret theft. Now, however, the scope of the problem and the government’s renewed focus on stopping international intellectual property theft have made parallel criminal and civil investigations commonplace.”
