The government used national-security laws, commonly employed against spies and terror plots, to nip the theft of genetically engineered hybrid seed from Iowa cornfields, says the Des Moines Register. An attorney for a Chinese brother and sister indicted on charges of theft of trade secrets is trying to quash evidence gathered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Attorney Mark Weinhardt says the government made a breathtaking expansion of FISA “to investigate a trade secret dispute between two private companies,” says the Register.
The FBI says there are broad repercussions from theft of trade secrets and that Chinese companies are the leading culprits in theft of U.S. intellectual property. DuPont Pioneer, the U.S. company involved in the case, says it can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and years of research to bring hybrid seed strains to market. Legal experts told the Register it will be key for prosecutors to show a relationship between the Chinese government and the seed company, DBN Group, that is involved in the case in federal court. Trial is scheduled for this fall.