This is the BBC.

In this edition of the bottom line, we'll be looking at the world of corporate espionage and copyright infringement.

Hello and welcome to the programme. Today we'll be talking about corporate theft.

It's played an extraordinarily big part in business history in the 18th century.

A European missionary to China smuggled out the secret formula for making porcelain. In the 19th century, a Scottish botanist disguised

as a merchant took the secrets and seeds of Chinese tea to India, which then came to dominate

production. We could talk about the French trying to get their hands on blueprints for the spinning Jenny,

and we could talk about the Americans copying our textile machinery.

But we shall talk about the modern world, what kinds of copyright infringement occur, or product copying,

how to protect against them.

And I have three guests with me who'll shed light on the murky world of commercial espionage.

And first up is Chris Morgan Jones, who's had a long career in business investigation and risk.

He used to work for the investigations firm Kroll, still consults for K2 intelligence,

but he's best known for drawing on his experience of corporate espionage to write thrillers.

Let's just talk about the books, actually, Chris.

What are the books?

There are three published books so far, and they take place in a fantastical version of the world we were about to talk about.

Because the real world of corporate espionage and corporate theft, I've done a little of the former,

I've done none of the latter, I should say, is frequently quite businesslike and dreary.

And you wouldn't necessarily write a novel about it.

But the novels take place in a fictional detective agency, which bears some resemblance to the places that I have worked.

And the people there get into scrapes involving Russian oligarchs and Iranian financiers and Georgian criminal bosses.

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