When the Walt Disney Company built the “It’s a Small World” ® ride for the New York World’s Fair in 1964, they probably had no idea of the challenges that globalization could pose 50 years later. From cases involving the sale of stolen trade secrets to foreign companies to departing employees setting up competing business in different jurisdictions, many
Continue Reading Seyfarth to Host Webinar on International Trade Secrets and Non-Compete Law

To accommodate our global audience, the fifth installment in the 2014 Trade Secrets Webinar Series will be available as an on-demand broadcast on Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. Central. Please register to receive access to the broadcast.

Seyfarth attorneys Wan Li, Ming Henderson, Justine Turnbull and Daniel Hart  will focus on non-compete and trade secret considerations from an
Continue Reading Upcoming On-Demand Webinar: International Trade Secrets and Non-Compete Law Update

Bringing to light the fact that US and Chinese forums can reach opposite conclusions on the same trade secret misappropriation allegations, China-based rubber and tire resin manufacturer Sino Legend urged the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to consider a parallel Chinese court proceeding seeking to convince the Commission to overturn an unfavorable initial determination by the Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”).
Continue Reading Sino Legend Urges U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to Consider Parallel Chinese Court Proceeding in Ongoing Trade Secret Litigation Brought by SI Group

In a story that Hollywood would love to script, the U.S. Government charged Sinovel and its executives with soliciting the then-head of the Automation Engineering Department of AMSC’s Austrian subsidiary, AMSC Windtec GmbH, to steal AMSC’s source code in order that Sinovel might bypass a commercial relationship with AMSC and utilize AMSC’s trade secrets without paying for ongoing software licenses. 
Continue Reading AMSC/Sinovel Industrial Espionage Thriller Takes a Procedural Detour, Threatening U.S. Criminal Prosecution

Counterfeiting and piracy is estimated to cost the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars every year.  According to the Business Software Alliance, if the U.S. could reduce piracy by 10 percent in two years, it would add $52 billion in GDP, $8 billion in tax revenue, and create more than 25,000 new jobs. California alone is losing an estimated
Continue Reading A New and Potentially Powerful Weapon Against Foreign Counterfeiters and Pirates

Cybersecurity has become a growing concern in the United States.  Legislation impacting this topic covers a variety of fields, including national security and defense, trade and international relations, intellectual property, and even privacy and civil liberties.  As technology is constantly changing, so too are the types of restrictions in place.

A group of prominent American Senators recently introduced the Deter
Continue Reading Federal Legislation Proposed To Combat Cyber-Espionage

By Robert Milligan and Jessica Mendelson

Today is the deadline for public comments requested by the Obama Adminstration on any proposed changes to federal law to combat trade secret theft. 

Some legal commentators have proposed several suggested changes to improve America’s trade secrets laws, including creating a federal civil cause of action for trade secrets misappropriation and clarifying that the
Continue Reading Employee Data Theft and Corporate Hacking Studies Point to Need for Additional Federal Trade Secrets Legislation

The theft of trade secrets by foreign companies, especially those in China, from American companies is a hot topic among lawmakers and in the press. A recent opinion from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to the ability of American companies to bring lawsuits in the United States for trade secret theft  in some circumstances, at least
Continue Reading If a Company in China Steals Your Trade Secrets, Do You Have to Litigate Your Lawsuit in China? Maybe…

On January 14, 2013, President Obama signed the Foreign and Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act of 2012.

The Act enhances the penalties for certain violations of the Economic Espionage Act.

The purpose of the Act was to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for increased penalties for foreign and economic espionage.

Under the Act, the upper limit
Continue Reading President Obama Signs Economic Espionage Act Amendments That Significantly Enhance The Penalties For Trade Secret Theft By Foreigners

By Matthew Werber

The Federal Circuit caught the attention of the ITC and trade secret litigators alike when it ruled in TianRui Group Co. v. ITC that the ITC can exercise its jurisdiction over acts of misappropriation occurring entirely in China.

The Commission initiated Investigation No. 337-TA-655 based on allegations that TianRui and a group of related respondents unlawfully accessed
Continue Reading Using the International Trade Commission to Address Trade Secret Misappropriation Occurring Abroad