Administration Issues Latest Road Map to Combat Intellectual Property Theft

The Obama administration has issued a road map to combat intellectual property theft over the next three years.

The “2013 Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Joint Strategic Plan” follows up on the more narrowly tailored “Administration Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of Trade Secrets” that we wrote about earlier this year, and reviews progress made on intellectual property issues in general since the administration’s first general IP strategic plan was issued in 2010.

While this year’s plan rightfully highlights the administration’s achievements in trade secret protection, it sheds little light on the concrete steps necessary to achieve its future goals in that area.

The strategic plan reveals progress made on the trade secret legislation, investigation, prosecution, and sentencing fronts. The enactment of Public Law 112-236, the “Theft of Trade Secrets Clarification Act of 2012,” closed a loophole by clarifying that the Economic Espionage Act protects trade secrets related to “a product or service used in or intended for use in” interstate or foreign commerce. The FBI unveiled a public education campaign to raise awareness of trade secret theft, and FBI trade secret theft cases are up 39 percent.

The Department of Justice has provided federal prosecutors with special training in computer crimes in order to support law enforcement agencies in the investigation of trade secret theft perpetrated by persons who pose a national security threat. Over the past three years the administration has also bolstered criminal penalties for economic espionage and directed the U.S. Sentencing Commission to consider increasing offense levels for trade secret crimes.

Despite these accomplishments, there is much more to achieve. The plan aims to press for protection of trade secrets overseas and enforcement actions to address their theft or misappropriation, and expresses concern about “forced technology transfer,” that is, efforts by foreign governments to condition market access or the ability to do business on the transfer of trade secrets or proprietary information.

While this document is high on aspirational talk regarding international coordination, it is notably low on concrete proposals for domestic trade secrets legislation. The lack of momentum on this front may be understandable considering that the administration received only 13 comments in response to the “Administration Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of Trade Secrets” that it released in February. However, there is a general consensus in the IP community that the law needs to provide a federal civil cause of action for trade secret theft that provides for broad civil remedies, similar to the Copyright Act or the Patent Act. Until such an act is implemented, trade secrets will not have a level of protection commensurate with their importance.