Citation[]
Department of Justice, Task Force on Intellectual Property, Reporting Intellectual Property Crime: A Guide for Victims of Copyright Infringement, Trademark Counterfeiting, and Trade Secret Theft (Mar. 2013) (full-text).
Overview[]
These guidelines seek information that, in the experience of Department of Justice prosecutors and investigators, is useful or even critical to the successful prosecution of the most common intellectual property crimes.
The guidelines provides a checklist which serves as a guide for the type of information that would be helpful for a victim or a victim's authorized representative to include when reporting an intellectual property violation to law enforcement. Victims are encouraged to complete the checklist prior to making a report, if possible. Prosecutors and/or investigators may also use the checklist as a framework to gather information from victims. The checklist contains two sections: one intended for use in criminal copyright and trademark cases (including counterfeit trademarks, certification marks or service marks), and the other intended for use in criminal trade secret cases. They can be adapted for use in other intellectual property offenses as well.