San Francisco & Bay Area Criminal Defense Lawyers

This article was originally published in the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer's White Collar Crime issue of The Champion, available here . Prosecutions alleging theft of trade secrets have been creeping upward since 2009. White collar practitioners must become fluent in the language of the Economic Espionage Act and be on alert that civil trade secret litigation can easily lead to criminal charges. Defense counsel should expect tailored and well-investigated cases by prosecutors unafraid to delve into highly technical and complex materials. I. Introduction With white collar prosecutions generally on the decline, one area is on the Justice Department's hot button list: theft of trade secrets. The perceived diversion of American innovation fits right in with the administration's interests and political aspirations. The result: the revival of the Economic Espionage Act ("the Act"). The Economic Espionage Act, enacted in 1996, criminalized t...