The Department of Justice has created 15 new Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSA) and 20 Federal Bureau of Investigation agent positions to assist the department's fight against domestic and international intellectual property crimes.

 

Those placed in the new AUSA positions will be a part of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) program within the DOJ. They will work with the Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) to combat high-tech offenses, particularly those pertaining to computer crime and intellectual property crime. The new openings will be in ten states across the country, as well as in the District of Columbia.

 

The FBI agents will be distributed to assist already-existing intellectual property squads in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. in order to augment the investigative abilities of those groups. The DOJ says those areas are considered "hot spots," where intellectual property offenses are of special concern, making the added agents of increased importance in that they will enable the squads to engage in more focused efforts in pursuing IP crimes, as well as allow for added communication between the FBI and state and local law enforcement officials.