By James P. Flynn

In February 2013, the Justice Department announced a federal trade secret enforcement initiative that rested in large part on encouraging American businesses to adopt best practices in the area and diligent pursuit of civil remedies, and on parallel criminal law enforcement.  As noted in the initiative outline, "The Department of Justice has made the investigation and prosecution of corporate and state sponsored trade secret theft a top priority."

Over the last ten days, events unfolded in New Jersey that showed this new policy initiative to be one involving real action.  Those events began with a timely filed civil action by Epstein Becker Green ("EBG") on behalf of Becton, Dickinson & Company ("BD") that led to a May 31, 2013, restraining order against Ketankumar Maniar, a former BD employee planning to leave the country in days with BD trade secrets in his possession. The facts developed by BD and EBG, along with the civil court filings, were provided to federal law enforcement officials.

Realizing that the material Maniar had taken amounted to a "tool kit" for manufacturing a soon-to-be-released disposable pre-filled pen injector in which BD had invested substantial time and money, federal agents opened a investigation.  They later executed a search warrant to retrieve from Maniar a number of storage devices and, on June 5, 2013, arrested him for criminal violation of 18 USC section 1832. The arrest was widely reported locally, nationally, and internationally after it was announced by the US Attorney for District of New Jersey and the FBI.

Such publicity is itself consistent with the initiative, which makes public awareness of the effort a foundational concept: "Highlighting [such cases and issues] can help mitigate the theft of trade secrets by encouraging all stakeholders, including the general public, to be aware of the detrimental effects of misappropriation on trade secret owners and the U.S. economy in general."

Employers in the health care industry can take some comfort in knowing that the Justice Department’s initiative is more than theoretical. But they must remain vigilant and prepare to respond quickly when a threat arises.

Back to Health Law Advisor Blog

Search This Blog

Blog Editors

Related Services

Topics

Archives

Jump to Page

Subscribe

Sign up to receive an email notification when new Health Law Advisor posts are published:

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.