Covington & Burling is representing an informal coalition of Big Business working to keep their trade secrets under wraps.
Procter & Gamble, Nike, Microsoft, General Electric, Eli Lilly and Corning Inc. are members of the Protect Trade Secrets Coalition, which is run out of C&B’s office in Washington.
They are concerned with issues such as copyright infringement, software piracy, tax invasion and corruption.
A study released Feb. 25 by PwC and the Center for Responsible Enterprise and Trade seeks to quantify the impact of the theft of secrets on the overall economy.
The report estimates the loss of trade secrets to competitors, transnational organized crime, unscrupulous employees, rogue nations and hacktivists costs the U.S. and advanced industrial states from one-to-three percent of overall GDP.
PwC and CRET believe theft is under-reported as corporate victims often fail to disclose a heist to avoid any negative publicity that could hamper business development and bolster competitors.
Daniel Spiegel, former US ambassador to the United Nations’ Geneva wing; Aaron Cooper, former chief counsel for intellectual property/antitrust law at the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Richard Hertling, ex-staff director at the House Judiciary Committee staff C&B’s team for the Coalition.
Anne Kierig, who was senior manager of public policy at Amazon, has joined the American Advertising Federation as VP-government affairs. She takes over for Clark Rector, who is retiring after a 37-year run at AAF.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which was established in compliance with the executive order signed by President Trump, has hired Valcour LLC, which has close ties with his administration.
Ballard Partners has signed on gunmaker Sturm, Ruger & Co to advocate on behalf of Second Amendment issues.
Sakura Conservation Strategies has registered Japanese American Confinement Sites Consortium as a client.
Sachs Media has signed on to represent the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund to advocate for public policies proven to reduce tobacco use, which is the No. 1 cause of preventable deaths in the US and the rest of the world.
