Arent Fox partner Steven Kimelman spoke at the Intellectual Property Law Section of the New York State Bar Association's 2008 Annual Meeting on January 29. His presentation, "Crimes and Misdemeanors in IP Cases,” focused on the use of white collar and criminal concepts, such as aiding and abetting, in intellectual property cases.

Steve’s assessment of the economic impact of product counterfeiting was discussed in a recent article published in the New York State Bar Association’s State Bar News.

"There are estimates that intellectual property theft worldwide costs American companies upwards of $250 billion annually," Steve told the publication, pointing to a 2004 US Department of Justice report. Experts estimate that six percent of the US gross national product is adversely impacted by counterfeiting.

"There are criminal law theories that everyone knows about conspiracy, aiding and abetting," and these approaches can be used in civil cases to protect trademark and copyright rights, Steve said.

Steve has been at the forefront of devising innovative ways to tackle the problem of counterfeiting. As the article points out, in the world of counterfeiting it is frequently too difficult to go after the manufacturers. As a result, Steve has designed and implemented a legal strategy to go after other players, such as landlords in New York and Los Angeles who permit their tenants to sell counterfeit products.

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