Month: January 2014

Protecting Trade Secrets in Russia: Lenient Criminal Sanctions Undercut Effective Protection

As the world prepares to descend on Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Trade Secrets Watch decided to take a look at how effective trade secret protections are in Russia.

Although Russia has fairly robust trade secret laws, Russian companies have generally been reluctant to seek legal redress for trade secret violations. According to studies conducted by market research agencies, about 90 percent of Russian companies have at some stage suffered from the theft of trade secrets. Although such theft can be a criminal offense, in most cases companies faced with this problem try to deal with it by themselves. In only 5 percent of cases do they initiate legal proceedings. READ MORE

U.S. v. LIEW: Opening Statements and FBI Testimony Kick Off Seven-Week Industrial Espionage Trial

A prosecutor opened the economic espionage trial of Walter Liew on Wednesday by waving at jurors a key that he alleged opened Liew’s safe deposit box containing industrial secrets stolen from DuPont.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Hemann led jurors through an almost cinematic scene that culminated with FBI agents confronting Liew and his wife, Christina, with the key found during a search of their Orinda, California home. Liew sat at the defense table during opening statements in San Francisco, as did co-defendant Robert Maegerle, a former DuPont employee. READ MORE

U.S. v. LIEW: Jury Selection Focuses on Anti-China Bias in Industrial Espionage Case

A federal judge questioned prospective jurors closely Tuesday for signs of anti-China bias in the industrial espionage trial of a U.S. citizen who prosecutors say fed secrets to a Chinese company.

Prosecutors allege that Walter Liew, who is of Malaysian descent, stole manufacturing secrets from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company and sold them to a company the Chinese government purportedly controlled.  His lawyers say there was little secret about DuPont’s techniques for making titanium dioxide, a white pigment used in painting paper and plastic, and that the Chinese government did not orchestrate Liew’s activities or that of a Chinese company, the Panang Group, at the center of the case.  (We previously commented on the government’s inability to serve the foreign-based company.) READ MORE