§ 5.09 Federal Versus State Referral

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Publication year: 2020

§ 5.09 Federal Versus State Referral

Some states have laws specifically directed at trade secret theft.⁹³⁵ Moreover, some jurisdictions have committed specific resources to the establishment of special prosecution units with experience in the field of technology crime. However, states, of course, are jurisdictionally limited in the crimes they can investigate and prosecute. Furthermore, it is difficult to match the resources of the FBI and the Department of Justice for the investigation and prosecution of most matters.⁹³⁶ Therefore, although victims of theft should consider prosecution under state laws (especially in jurisdictions where the local prosecutor has experience dealing with this sort of crime) as a general matter the agency of choice will likely be the U.S. Attoney's Office. However, most big city U.S. Attorney's Offices have fairly strict guidelines as to what type of cases they prosecute. Failure to meet these guidelines may mean that state prosecutors may offer the victim its only opportunity to have the case criminally prosecuted.

--------

Notes:

^[935] See Ch. 9 infra.

^[936] People v. Eubanks, 14 Cal. 4th 580, 598 (Cal. 1996). In this case, an entire office of the district attorney...