Intellectual Property Law
New Matter WINTER 2021, VOLUME 46, EDITION 4
Content
- 2022 New Matter Author Submission Guidelines
- A Look At the Trademark Modernization Act - Part 2
- CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, "RETURN OR DESTROY" CLAUSES AND THE PERNICIOUS PERSISTENCE OF ELECTRONIC RECORDS
- Federal Circuit Report
- INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SECTION Executive Committee 2021-2022
- INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SECTION Interest Group Representatives 2021-2022
- Intellectual Property Section New Matter Editorial Board
- Ip and Art: An International Perspective
- Letter From the Chair
- Letter From the Editor-in-chief
- My Holiday Wish List From the Uspto
- Ninth Circuit Report
- Online Cle For Participatory Credit
- Quarterly International Ip Law Update
- Table of Contents
- The American Rule
- The California Lawyers Association Intellectual Property Alumni
- The Nascent Showdown Between the Ninth Circuit's Server Test and Its Detractors
- Trade Secret Report
- Ttab Decisions and Developments
- The Doj's China Initiative and the Controversy of Prosecuting Professors and Researchers In the U.S. For Trade Secrets Theft
THE DOJ’S CHINA INITIATIVE AND THE CONTROVERSY OF PROSECUTING PROFESSORS AND RESEARCHERS IN THE U.S. FOR TRADE SECRETS THEFT
AUTHORS
Catherine Lui
Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe LLP
Krystal Anderson
Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe LLP
Despite the DOJ successfully obtaining convictions on a number of prosecutions under its China Initiative, many contend that it may be on the cusp of unraveling, particularly regarding the DOJ’s efforts to target professors and researchers at American universities with alleged ties to China. On September 9, 2021, Anming Hu, a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville ("UTK"), was acquitted over an alleged failure to disclose ties to a Chinese university in receiving federal grant funds. In July 2021, the DOJ also voluntarily dismissed five indictments against researchers alleged to have ties with the Chinese military. As a result of these headlines, particularly the Hu acquittal, the China Initiative has garnered a number of critics, and raised a number of questions pertaining to academic freedom, racial profiling, and the criminalization of routine research collaboration. This article explores the history of the DOJ’s prosecution of professors and researchers at American universities under the China Initiative, and discusses the impact of the recent acquittal in the matter of United States v. Hu.1