Tuesday, July 24, 2007, 7/24/2007 01:11:00 PM

USA Today Reports on FBI's Attempts to Counter Chinese, and other, Trade Secret Theft

By Todd
This important issue our blog has been covering since its inception - the threat of foreign governments and foreign companies to American intellectual property interests - has now made the front page of the USA TODAY. That shows the issue has arrived.

They report that China, which lacks a tradition of protecting intellectual property, represents the most aggressive threat. The Communist leadership is determined to increase the nation's technological sophistication while fiercely competitive Chinese business executives seek to leapfrog Western rivals by marrying their low labor costs with purloined technology.

"It's a serious problem to Corporate America and our economic interests," says Rudy Guerin, former head of the FBI's East Asia branch. "And it's going to get worse."

The FBI has increased the number of agents assigned to counter alleged Chinese espionage from about 150 in 2001 to more than 350 today, says Bruce Carlson, who leads the bureau's counterintelligence efforts against China.

Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, says: "The allegations made by a handful of people in this country that China is engaged in espionage activities in the U.S. are groundless."
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