The idea for this book developed in October 1996 on the eve of the passage of the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) in discussions with a colleague who specialized in intellectual property law and had been practicing for some 15 years or so, litigating patents, trade secrets, and infringement cases domestically and internationally in this area. We engaged in an ongoing debate with respect to factors that had contributed to the passage of this new legislation. Our discussions were fruitful because we each had unique perspectives, mine from an academic social science background and his from a practitioner's legalistic point of view dealing with these issues, not on an abstract level, but rather day in and out handling disputes among corporate entities.

I began analyzing and interpreting the legislative actions both at state and federal levels regarding past and postcriminalization efforts. Accordingly, the objective was to examine the available records on legislative evolution and legislative history that gave rise to the enactment of this statute and Congress' initiatives. I systematically began reviewing and tracing all prosecutions brought to date under the EEA legislation. Furthermore, I began examining the impact of this law in the United States, and related legal regimes in Central and Eastern Europe as well. My project in Central Europe was made possible through a research grant from the State Department of the United States, which provided me with an opportunity to analyze this topic from a comparative perspective in order to gain a better understanding of what some European countries were doing with respect to these issues and their potential impact on western nations.