Protection of Intellectual Property

Protection of Intellectual Property

Many organizations thrive from their intellectual properties. Unfortunately, these properties are vulnerable. Unwanted access to an organization’s database would lead to the loss of such critical information. Cyber-hacks, too, are a threat to intellectual properties. The purpose of this paper is sharing insights on how an organization could ensue its intellectual properties are secured.

Organizations are faced with several challenges. Among the most severe problems facing any organization is the infringement of intellectual property. Intellectual properties refer to intangible assets arising from creative creations. (Sherwood, 2019). They include trade secrets, proprietary products, etc. these properties are very crucial to a company and should be kept discreet. Unfortunately, they are often infringed and end up landing in wrongful hands. Such infringement results in loss of revenue, weakening an organization competitive advantage as well as decreased job opportunities. Intellectual property theft involves robbing off a company their inventions, ideas, and creative expressions. Stealing intellectual property is highly profitable to the malicious people who do so, and is regarded as illegal and a crime. Companies often lose their intellectual properties to thieves due to inadequate information security systems. In other instances, insiders from the company are involved in the leaking of this crucial information. They do so through industrial espionage actions such as trash scavenging or technical surveillance. These practices are unethical and often lead to untold losses and suffering to the companies involved. They are supposed to be curbed with. As such, an organization needs proper mechanisms to discourage managers or employees from forming misusing intellectual property for their gain. It should also be able to have measures and strategies that facilitate the security of intellectual properties stored in digital form.

A research conducted in the United States revealed that insiders within the companies orchestrated most of the intellectual property theft. (Intellectual Property Theft – Industry Today. Industry Today. 2020).  This shows that a company needs to have strategies that discourage the employees, managers, and anyone able to leak such information. One way to do so is by signing augment non-disclosure agreements. United States courts have praised tis strategy terming it to be the most effective initial stage to deal with intellectual property theft. This requires the employees and everyone in the organization to abide by the non-disclosure policies. Similarly, companies should control physical and electronic accesses. The research had also indicated that cyber hacks were on the lead, contributing to intellectual property theft. An organization has to have restrictions on the accessibility of their electronic databases. Only authorized personnel can be able to access such databases and should do so with the consent of the manager or management. A company needs to regularly evaluate their security procedures and systems, to monitor all the activities that may have taken place in a specified time.

Moreover, there should be a person who has the overall responsibility for protecting trade secrets. (Drahos, 2016). This means that trade secrets and other intellectual properties are prioritized. Intellectual properties represent a very critical part of an organization’s growth. They contain information regarding expansion, market analysis, and forecasts, new product designs as well as new inventions. Thus, if such information falls into the wrong hands, it could lead to an organization’s downfall. Therefore, intellectual property security should be prioritized.

Overly, intellectual property needs proper securing. Patenting and acquiring trademark is among the most reasonable way of protecting these properties. However, there are other customary means of protecting them, such as limiting access to a company’s electronic database and signing non-closure augment policies.

Reference

Drahos, P. (2016). A philosophy of intellectual property. Routledge.

Intellectual Property Theft – Industry Today. Industry Today. (2020). Retrieved 19 February 2020, from https://industrytoday.com/intellectual-property-theft/.

Sherwood, R. M. (2019). Intellectual property and economic development. Routledge.