Former Justice Department CyberLawyer Peter Toren Authors Guide to Protection Against High-Tech Theft and Intellectual Property Violations.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 12, 2003

Sidley Austin Brown & Wood

Sidley Austin Brown & Wood partner offers businesses a defense course in computer crime, protection of trade secrets and confidential

information; Toren helped draft the 1996 Economic Espionage Act and

was co-author of First DOJ Manual on violations of IP rights;

FBI cites 300% increase in cybercrime 

There's a new weapon in the fight against cyber-criminals.

Peter J. Toren was one of the first trial attorneys with the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Justice Department. Now a partner in the New York office of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, Mr. Toren has authored the definitive guide to criminal IP law and computer crimes: Intellectual Property and Computer Crimes.

"Computer crime has become the most pressing global problem in law enforcement," said Mr. Toren. "Computers and the Internet have spawned a whole new category of criminal activity, but new technology has made it far easier for criminals to commit traditional crimes and potentially make the payoffs far greater. Criminals who use computers are not hampered by international boundaries because property can be shipped covertly via telephone and data networks. A cybercriminal needs no passport and passes no checkpoints. There are simply no physical limitations in committing cybercrime."

A recent FBI survey found that 90% of the corporate respondents reported breaches of their computer system in the past year. Forty-four percent were able to measure their financial losses, surpassing $455 million. Computer crime cost U.S. businesses billions of dollars every year. Many of these losses would have been prevented had companies taken even basic security measures. Similarly it is estimated that the U.S. economy lost $9.2 billion through copyright violations.

The 500-page book, published by American Lawyer Media's Law Journal Press (http://www.lawcatalog.com), covers federal and state computer crimes, as well as federal criminal laws protecting intellectual property, and provides an overview of general IP laws including those covering copyright, patents, trademarks and trade secrets. The book also provides concrete steps that can help companies reduce the chance of becoming a victim to a computer intrusion or having its intellectual property ripped-off.

Its nine chapters include:

-- Overview of laws protecting intellectual property including

copyright, patents, trademarks and trade secrets;

-- Criminal Copyright Infringement - the elements, punishment and

defenses;

-- Other Federal Criminal Laws that Protect Creative Works - the

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), trafficking in

counterfeit labels and sound recordings of live musical

performances;

-- Trademark Counterfeiting - history, defenses and punishments;

-- Thefts of Trade Secrets under the Economic Espionage Act of

1996 - analysis, protective measures, prosecution guidelines

and criminal exposure;

-- Other Federal Statutes - mail and wire fraud, racketeering,

money laundering, smuggling, theft of government secrets;

-- Computer Crimes - the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986,

the Communications Decency Act, Computer and Information

Security Plans;

-- Searching and Seizing Computers - Fourth Amendment

protections, warrants, Privacy Protection Act and Electronic

Surveillance;

-- State Criminal Laws covering trafficking in counterfeit goods,

theft of trade secrets and computer crime

Visitors to www.lawcatalog.com can view the complete table of contents, and read a sample chapter online.

Toren a Well-Known Cyberlawyer

Mr. Toren has wide-ranging experience in intellectual property and computer crimes. While at the Department of Justice in the 1990s, he tried a number of high profile cases involving violations of criminal copyright, trademark, trade secret laws and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He also assisted in drafting the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 and was lead prosecutor in one of the first indictments brought under that Act. He was the author of the Justice Department's first manual on the prosecution of criminal copyright, trade secret and trademark violations.

At Sidley, where he co-chairs the firm's cyberlaw practice (www.sidley.com/cyberlaw), Mr. Toren represents clients in cases involving the Patent Act, Copyright Act, Lanham and Trademark Acts, the DMCA, Economic Espionage Act, Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, as well as arbitration proceedings conducted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) regarding Internet domain names. He also regularly counsels clients on how to better protect their intellectual property and to increase computer security. Mr. Toren has recently appeared before the Fifth, Ninth and Federal Circuits.

Mr. Toren is a frequent speaker on intellectual property and cyberlaw related topics. He has published numerous articles that have appeared in law reviews and national legal publications. He is co-editor of Patent, Strategy and Management. He has also appeared as a legal commentator on television and radio.

Mr. Toren is an Adjunct Professor of Law specializing in cyberlaw at Hofstra University.

To speak with Mr. Toren, please contact us.