'Taking Information: The Criminalization of Intellectual Property Law' - Harry First: CIPIL Seminar

Professor Harry First (Charles L. Denison Professor of Law, NYU School of Law) spoke on the topic of "Taking Information: The Criminalization of Intellectual Property Law" at a seminar on 17 February 2020. “They are stealing our intellectual property.” This statement, made with increasing frequency in the last decade, comes from a diverse group of complainants—government trade-policy makers, the entertainment industry, even a major investment banking company. These complaints have led to increasing efforts to make the acquisition of information, sometimes protected by intellectual property laws, into “crime.” This talk will describe this developing area of the law and argue that increased criminalization is both inevitable and necessary, but carries risks to society’s interests in innovation and competition. The talk will cover three areas: 1) Where we are: the scope of i-p criminalization; 2) How we got here: history and political economy; 3) How to think about i-p criminalization: criminal law theory. The talk will conclude with some observations regarding the appropriate place for criminal law enforcement in this area. For more information see the CIPIL website at http://www.cipil.law.cam.ac.uk