On April 23rd, 2019, China’s Standing Committee on the National People’s Congress adopted amendments to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, significantly strengthening China’s protection of trade secrets. The bolstering of intellectual property safeguards in China comes in advance of important trade negotiations between China and the international community, including the United States. The changes to the
USG Continues to Focus on IP
Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the legislative agency tasked to conduct auditing, evaluation, and investigative services for the U.S. Congress, released a report regarding the sustainment of operational system software for Department of Defense (DoD) weapon systems. Software sustainment is essential to the operations of DoD weapon systems, including tactical and combat vehicles,
U.S. Continues to Take Strong Action to Combat against Chinese Economic Espionage
Despite continued trade talks with China, the federal government continues to aggressively pursue efforts to prevent and hold Chinese companies accountable for trade secret theft and economic espionage. As described below, in the last month alone, the U.S. Government has taken three very decisive actions in combating the threat.
- The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee announced the
Is Trade Secret Theft a State Crime?
In West Virginia, legislators are moving forward a bill that would criminalize trade secret theft. On February 26th 2019, the West Virginia House of Delegates passed H.B. 2014 with a 98-1 approval that would create criminal penalties for stealing trade secret or other intellectual property. The bill is now headed to the West Virginia Senate
Do Diversity Initiatives Warrant Trade Secret Protections?
Applying the trade secret label to diversity initiatives is growing in popularity in recent years.
This issue has arisen in the context of public records requests, as companies with government contracts are subject to the Labor Department’s anti-discrimination arm and are required to provide diversity information in the form of EEO-1 reports. Several companies have