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Department of Justice Logo 

U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney
Northern District of California

 

11th Floor, Federal Building
450 Golden Gate Avenue, Box 36055
San Francisco, California  94102

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

 

Tel: (415) 436-7200
Fax: (415) 436-7234

 

April 22, 2004

United States Attorney Kevin V. Ryan has been appointed to the Justice Department's Intellectual Property Task Force which was created by Attorney General John Ashcroft last month, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today.  The IP Task Force was designed to examine all aspects of how the DOJ handles intellectual property issues and to develop recommendations for future activity.  Mr. Ryan is one of only two United States Attorneys nationwide to receive this appointment.  The Chairman of the task force is David M. Israelite, who serves as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Attorney General.

Yesterday the Justice Department announced the composition of the 12-member task force, which also includes five Assistant Attorney's General, the Principal Deputy Solicitor General and the General Counsel for the FBI, as well as the creation of five working groups within the task force in the areas of criminal and civil law, international issues, legislative and regulatory proposals and public awareness.

Mr. Ryan's appointment to the task force recognizes the leading role that the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California has played in the area of prosecuting intellectual property, computer and other high-technology crimes.  The Office's Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) Unit was the first of its kind when established in February 2000, and based on its success was declared by the Attorney General in July 2001 to be the model for the dozen other CHIP Units that have been created across the country since that time.

Recent cases demonstrate that the Northern District's CHIP Unit continues to play a pioneering role in the prosecution of intellectual property crimes.  Earlier this month, in what is believed to be the first extradition of its kind, a Ukrainian individual, Maksym Vysochanskyy, was extradited from Thailand to face indictment on multiple intellectual property and money laundering offenses for allegedly distributing millions of dollars of pirated computer software over the Internet.  The Vysochanskyy indictment followed a 46-month prison sentence imposed in March 2004 on a Singapore citizen who pled guilty to conspiring to distribute counterfeit Microsoft software from Asia and to launder money.  The defendant in that case, Lay Eng Teo, was extradited to the United States from Hong Kong in 2003.

The Northern District is also one of only two United States Attorney's Offices nationwide to have ever alleged economic espionage in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1831.  In December 2002, Fei Ye and Ming Zhong were charged in a ten-count indictment stemming from an alleged conspiracy to use trade secrets stolen from four Silicon Valley companies to benefit China.

The indictment in that case alleges that defendants stole trade secrets relating to integrated circuit design from four Silicon Valley companies – Transmeta Corporation (Transmeta); Sun Microsystems, Inc.; NEC Electronics Corporation (NEC); and Trident Microsystems, Inc.; in connection with a project known as Supervision, Inc., to produce and sell microprocessors with the intent to benefit the PRC and its instrumentalities.  The defendants told others that Supervision was applying for funding from the 863 Program, a Chinese government high technology R&D program.  Some of the trade secrets were seized from the defendants at the San Francisco International Airport while they were attempting to fly to China.  The case is set for trial in November 2004.

A copy of this press release as well as the press release by the Department of Justice announcing the appointments to the Intellectual Property Task Force may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher P. Sonderby, Chief of the CHIP Unit, at (408) 535-5037, or Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Jacobs at (415) 436-7181.

mattmed