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Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property Protection in App Development

With the world economy becoming more globalized and highly connected by the Internet, plenty of apps developed in recent years have achieved tremendous success. It won’t be wrong to say that app development is in its ‘golden era’ right now. However, while developing a new app, a person needs to acquire Intellectual Property (IP) Protection to safeguard the app from the issues of piracy, theft, or infringement. Usually, the owner seeks protection from various forms of Intellectual Property like copyrights, trademarks, and patents, depending on the app and its applications.

NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT (NDA)

Developing or creating an app is not a task implemented by a single person as it involves a lot of brainpower and mental aptitude. In most cases, you would probably need to hire a freelance app developer having the appropriate technical skills to build something extraordinary and productive. But how will you ensure that they keep the project and its details confidential or don’t steal the idea after helping you out? The answer is by signing a non-disclosure agreement before the developer starts working on the app. A non-disclosure agreement or NDA is a legal contract signed between two people stating the information that will be shared between them along with the confidential information that they will not share with other people. Such an agreement offers aid to the owners by enforcing others to remain silent about the app developed. By including this agreement, the owners can retain their ownership of the app developed.

PATENT PROTECTION

If the developed app has something novel, innovative, and useful to offer along with the commercial potential for sales, the owner can file a Patent Application for seeking Patent Protection on some aspects of the app. While the software is not always something that can seek protection, there are other parts involved in the process of app development, which possibly can. It often depends on how the person has created the app as well as on the encapsulation of different methods to build something new. The legal IP authorities may also grant patent protection to the hardware necessary, such as to play the app, which will protect the invention and promote its commercial sales.

TRADEMARK REGISTRATION

The brand name and its image become the prime link between the owners and their customers. Therefore, while developing an app, the owners must protect their identity with Trademark Registration. A trademark registered for the name or logo of the app will create a brand for the owner by giving him the exclusive rights to prevent other traders from using the same or similar app name or logo. However, the developer must ensure that the name or logo selected for the app doesn’t infringe the IP Rights of any other app developer. The developers should follow proper clearance procedures before applying for trademark registration.

COPYRIGHTS

Depending on what the owners are seeking to protect, they can also acquire Copyright Protection for the specific or printed words used in the app, including stories, dialogues, to name a few. Other related works used in the application like the artistic works can also receive copyright protection as long as the software is not a part of it. Copyrights also protect the source code that goes behind the software used in creating the app. Source codes are a set of human-readable computer instructions executed to run the app on the desired platform. They meet the standard for copyright protection as they are an original work of ownership designed by the developer in a tangible medium.

BOTTOM LINE

Developers and business owners who either create apps on their own or hire independent creators must keep in mind that the apps developed are valuable assets of Intellectual Property. Like any other assets of a business, apps must also be maintained and protected. Smart business plans and strategies, along with sound advice on how to protect these assets, enhance the reputation of any business in the marketplace, and potentially monetize the creative ideas.

 

13th August 2019 by admin 0
Plagiarism
How can Intellectual Property Plagiarism harm your Business?

In today’s highly competitive business arena, business operations and activities should be executed legitimately for protecting the brand’s entity and reputation. Copying something which a person doesn’t own is an illegal offense. As a business owner, a person may face various legal and corporate penalties. Additionally, the government may impose a ban on the products sold by the owner or his company, leading to the loss of customers.

Usually used with writing works, research submissions, and academic papers, plagiarism is not limited to writing pieces. If a person has spoken about something and you use it as it is, then it would also fall under the category of plagiarism. Therefore, it is advisable to all the students, business owners, corporate experts, and even public speakers to stay aware of this issue.

PLAGIARISM GOES BEYOND WRITTEN WORKS

The most common example of plagiarism includes copying a blog. Website owners and bloggers very often face this issue when people copy their posts and use them on their websites. However, this is just a typical example of plagiarism, and there are scenarios of other types as well. In the business environment, plagiarism is a day-to-day issue that entrepreneurs face. Going through an example would clear this thought to a great extent. Suppose that a person has a brand of perfumes and is all set to launch a new scent. One of his competitors gets a sniff and launches an identical product before the real owner. Such a situation would cause damage to the owner’s product even before it had reached the potential buyers. Counted as an illegal act, business owners can’t copy or steal the ideas of another person or company. At times business owners aren’t even aware of this aspect, but in other cases, they may also copy the ideas intentionally for saving their efforts.

How Can Plagiarism of Intellectual Property Cause Damage to your Business in an Unprecedented Way?

It takes a long time for any business to build or establish a positive reputation. Moreover, with one wrong move, the built reputation could vanish in a fraction of second. In the past many years, a lot of businesses have eventually shut down after unauthorized copying or stealing of Intellectual Property (IP). If people copy or steal your ideas for their benefit, it results in the infringement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

Some key negative factors attacked with intellectual property plagiarism are as follows:

  1. GUARANTEED LOSS OF TRUST

If we ever look at the market sector in any category, we will find out that there are only a few brands which capture the entire market.  For example, if a person wants to buy a pair of footwear, he would rely on a limited number of brands because these few brands have a more trustworthy image than the others. If you copy or steal ideas that are already being used by another person or company, then people would eventually stop trusting your brand. Consumers around the world are of the view that if a brand doesn’t have something unique to offer, then it is not dependable. Therefore, if you are copying or stealing any idea, product, or even an offer, customers would stop believing in you, and your products. Even a small concept copied can create several problems for a brand. Counted as a severe issue, plagiarism of Intellectual Property executes long term damages for a brand.

  1. FACING LEGAL PENALTIES

Business operations and activities don’t run without legal rules and regulations. The companies which are a part of the corporate world must abide by these rules. Violation or infringement of these rules lead to legal penalties and in the worst scenarios could also result in the companies barred from carrying out their business operations. Plagiarism of IP by any means isn’t a small case of violation. Therefore, business owners who are involved in such crimes have to pay legal penalties.

  1. NEGATIVE REPUTATION IN THE LONG RUN

Plagiarism of IP is a sign of immense unprofessionalism. It damages the business interests of a company that owns the original thoughts and ideas. Every customer in the market expects to get unique products and services. If a brand sells copied products, it loses its trust among the buyers immediately. It is a matter of fact that yes; once a brand loses its reputation, it becomes almost impossible to regain it. Therefore, the brands and business owners should never copy ideas to prevent their corporate reputation from tarnishing forever.

 

9th August 2019 by admin 0
Pharmaceutical-Industry
Role of Intellectual Property in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the evergreen industries in today’s high paced world. Whether an economy is on its most stable behavior or in recession mode, a person can fall sick any day or might require his supplement pills. Therefore, it won’t be wrong to say that the pharmaceutical industry is a prime source of medical innovation. In a pharmaceutical or biotech company, Intellectual Property (IP) is indeed the most valuable resource, which contributes significantly to the company’s future success. IP is the bedrock on which the advancement of new medications and cures takes place. Without Intellectual Property Protection, researchers might not be able to explore new areas of medical innovation and uncover the discoveries that will prompt the treatments, and cures of tomorrow.

IPR IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

The medical innovations and treatments leading to the discovery of new life-saving drugs must be protected through Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). As the relationship between a consumer and a pharmaceutical product is based entirely on trust, Trademarks help to distinguish and protect the brand on a company and product level. Patents offer pharmaceutical companies with exclusive rights to market their drugs and prevent others from selling, copying, or manufacturing these drugs for 20 years from the date of application. For pharmaceutical companies, IPR is a prerequisite for identifying, planning, commercializing, and protecting the inventions. They also encourage healthy competition, which promotes industrial development and economic growth. Additionally, IPRs provide sufficient incentives to these companies for investing in research and development.

IMPORTANCE OF IP IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Intellectual Property is essential for the continued innovation of new medicines, and holds utmost importance in the pharmaceutical industry, explained in the points mentioned below.

  1. PROTECTION OF MEDICAL INVENTION

Once a person or a company has designed or developed a new drug or medical treatment, they must protect it either by filing a Patent Application or by keeping it as Trade Secret. However, in the case of trade secrets, a drug can be reverse-engineered, leading to the invention getting stolen, whereas a patent offers much more watertight protection.

  1. DRIVES ECONOMIC GROWTH AND COMPETITIVENESS

Intellectual Property leads to the significant economic growth of a pharmaceutical company by awarding the sole intellectual property rights to the inventor of a medication or treatment. All the marketing rights of the invention lie solely with the inventor with further options of even selling or licensing it.

  1. PROTECTION OF CONSUMERS AND FAMILIES

In the pharmaceutical industry, Intellectual Property’s main interest lies in public safety as it helps the consumers in making the right choice while selecting a medical product. Intellectual property rights help in ensuring a standard by assuring quality, which further establishes a reliable and effective public health infrastructure.

  1. GENERATES SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES

Promotion of innovation is essential; however, at the same time, one needs funding to do so. In the pharmaceutical industry, intellectual property rights offer encouragement to develop drugs and vaccines for the new diseases discovered daily. They provide incentives for turning innovative ideas into possible new medications.

  1. PROTECTION AGAINST POTENTIAL INFRINGERS

Intellectual property rights allow pharmaceutical companies to take strict actions against counterfeit drugs. Without such rights, countries across the globe would have a difficult time in ensuring the safety of their medical inventions.

BOTTOM LINE

The pharmaceutical industry should make sincere efforts to manage their IP Rights rather than just acquiring them from the national or regional IP Offices. It is a matter of fact that yes; Patent and Trademark Rights are not of much worth unless they are adequately exploited. Enterprises in the pharmaceutical industry should extract full value from their IP assets and medical inventions by taking adequate steps to develop an IP strategy for dealing with possible infringers. Therefore, enforcement of IP Rights is crucial to ensure that their intellectual property is respected in the marketplace.

29th July 2019 by admin 0
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property and Big Data

In today’s global business environment, new advancements in technologies are continuously enabling a predictive analysis of Big Data. Such technologies offer business experts and individuals a platform for making better decisions and improving efficiencies boundlessly. Accordingly, companies and organizations around the globe are looking to tackle the power of information and analytics to make themselves increasingly agile, lean, and productive. Therefore, applying information to drive better insights is leading towards more effective and efficient business strategies. Intellectual Property (IP) is not exempted from this pattern as well. IP officials are now embracing the opportunities managed by better analysis of tremendous amounts of disparate data to ensure their IP portfolio is a significant contributor to the company’s main concern.

What is Big Data?

Big Data refers to the vast volume of both structured and unstructured data, which is analyzed using advanced techniques for making better decisions and strategic business moves. In recent times, Big Data is changing the way the world uses business information with the help of smart decision making and reducing costs. Combining Big Data with high powered analytics can determine the root causes of failures and issues in real-near time. Therefore, it will not be wrong that Big Data is the new oil that will drastically change the economies worldwide.

What is the role of Big Data in IP?

IP organizations often use many tools and processes that haven’t evolved as quickly as the businesses they serve. Analytics tools offer aid to the companies in harnessing Big Data for their business strategies, but they are not equally effective in decision making and analysis of IP. At a time when the enforcement, management, monetization, and protection of IP lie at the core of business value, IP intelligence solutions can help the business firms in identifying the market trends, opportunities, and limitations along with the assets they need to protect. Modern IP management systems can assist the companies in understanding the cost of protecting innovation and the value of their IP portfolio. Therefore, in due course, every IP department should be able to identify the annual revenue generated by an IP portfolio and the cost of managing their assets.

In a nutshell, to deal with complex and new sources of data, including litigation and prosecution, the intelligence now exists to improve their quality, applicability, and preciseness

Managing IP with Technology

Business companies and firms can buy real-time data on around 100 million Patent Applications and Trademark Registrations, which will be beneficial only if they have the handling power and analytics capabilities to gather relevant insights. A new generation of technology, including Data Mining, Machine Learning (ML), and On-demand Cloud Computing, can transform the way companies interrogate large sets of data by identifying valuable trends and anomalies.

Predictive Analysis

Nowadays, many business firms and their IP departments are deploying predictive analytics in various innovative ways. Predictive analytics can help in combining the internal and external data required for evaluating the strength and relevance of a patent. They can also offer aid to the companies in reviewing the patents due for renewal. Moreover, companies can make more informed decisions by comparing patent market share and the revenue generated against the cost of protection. Additionally, predictive analytics can also ensure the validity of data as till date information related to patents is entered manually, which is highly vulnerable to human error. All these examples can altogether reduce the workload of IP departments at a time when more applications are filed than ever before.

Conclusion

In today’s high paced world, every industry faces several opportunities and threats from the game-changing technologies. With the advent of Big Data, these companies can make decisions and predictions on their operations and working. For IP experts and chief officers, Big Data has transformed and redefined their reach beyond patent applications to a more fully shaped boardroom strategy. These tools exist today and shall continue to evolve. However, the companies that still manually search for relevant IP information are using their resources inefficiently and are missing out on driving critical business insights from big datasets.

 

23rd July 2019 by admin 0
Intellectual-Property--myth
Intellectual Property Myths

In today’s Intellectual Property (IP) intensive environment, people mostly don’t set out to steal or copy any other person’s property, invention, or creative ideas. Rather, they get inspired by the creativity around them, which in turn leads them down to a daunting path of inappropriate business deals. If people don’t understand the laws and rights of intellectual property, their businesses can face a massive loss, ultimately leading to even bankruptcy. So, here are a few common intellectual property myths, which can prevent your business from having a negative impact.

Myth 1 – Registration of IP is the end of the matter

Nowadays, many companies and organizations strongly believe that once a trademark is registered or a patent is granted, they can be used without worrying about infringing someone else’s intellectual property.  However, a post-registration challenge can also be made to check the validity of a trademark or patent, which happens mostly in the cases of infringement. Moreover, other people can also infringe on your products, or services, therefore, it will not be wrong to say that granted Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) do not prevent infringement.

Myth 2 – A Patent protects an invention worldwide

There is nothing like “Worldwide Patent Protection.” For instance, a patent granted in the US only protects that product in the States. If the owners want to ensure protection abroad, they must file a Patent Application in each country (as per their local Patent Laws) where they want to use the patent. However, there are a few international filing systems, namely, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the European Patent Convention, which can offer aid in obtaining patent protection in multiple jurisdictions at once.

Myth 3 – Trademarks protect only words or logos

A trademark can be any sign which is capable of being graphically represented by distinguishing goods or services from those of other undertakings. In addition to words and logos, colors (single color or color combinations), sounds, holograms, positions, or motion marks are also applicable for Trademark Registration.

Myth 4 – A person is free to use anything available on the internet

Many people around the globe believe that anything published on the internet is free to use as it is in the public domain. However, the content on most websites, which includes the text and images, is likely to be subject to Copyright Protection. If something is publicly accessible on the Internet does not necessarily mean it is in the public domain. Therefore, all business owners and other individuals should assume that anything available on the Internet is copyrighted, even if it doesn’t have the copyright symbol.

Myth 5 – IP is only for technology companies and large corporations

IP is size neutral as it benefits the companies of all sizes. Often, technology companies and large corporations like Apple and Google get highlighted in the news by mentioning their intellectual property. However, in today’s cut-throat competitive world, smaller companies are often more creative and innovative because of their better and smarter ways of doing things. Therefore, the intellectual property extends protection to all types of businesses in the market and is the best asset any company or firm could ever own.

18th July 2019 by admin 0
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property And Video Games

In the last few years, the video game industry has grown exponentially by fusing cutting-edge technology and imaginative creativity. However, video game developers and promoters often find it hard to safeguard their business interests in the game. In other words, they wish to prevent the games developed and promoted by them from being copied by their rivals and competitors in the market. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are associated with not only the tools required to develop the games but also with the content included in the game. Therefore, a well-defined Intellectual Property (IP) strategy is a must have to protect the business interests of the game developers and promoters.

COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS

In video games, Copyright Protection extends to the creativity and innovative expressions that go into the software (code), and also to the artwork and audio effects (sound and music) involved. Additionally, if the developers are willing to initiate a new project based on an already existing copyrighted work (so-called derivative), they must ensure to secure the legal rights and appropriate licenses from the Copyright Owners. Trademark Protection extends to the names, logos, and symbols associated with the game along with its characters. Therefore, Trademark Registration helps the customers in determining the corporate origin of the video games and builds a loyal relationship between them and the videogame developer.

PATENTS AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS

Patent Protection extends to the hardware or technical solutions along with the inventive gameplay involved in the video games. Industrial Designs protect the game’s visual characters, along with the videogame cover and its graphic interface. In the gaming industry, Industrial Design Protection doesn’t protect any technical functionality, but only the external features of shapes, lines, contours, colors, and textures of the game’s characters and other models.

OWNERSHIP AND LICENSING

Video game licensing plays a significant role in successful manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of video games. In the video game industry, Copyrights give ownership to the creators and developers of video games. The legally recognized owner of the game can initiate licensing contracts for selling and distributing their works. Since the very beginning of this industry, creators and developers have incorporated licensed material into their games in an undertaking, not exclusively to captivate everyone, yet in addition to attract a wider audience through the use of recognizable technologies to create more realistic gameplay.

For safeguarding the developer’s rights and interests, licenses must be drafted in compliance with the Intellectual Property Laws. The video game companies and independent developers must make sincere efforts to protect their IP and prevent its misuse through Copyright Protection and licensing contracts.

BOTTOM LINE

The video game industry is continually evolving; creatively, technologically, and commercially.  With such innovations and developments, come new challenges and difficulties. The developers and distributors must register their IP at the start of a new project as IP Rights provide a fundamental edge against all competition in the global market. They must ensure that the legal decisions are appropriate and in place to enable the development, financing, and distribution of video games. Therefore, it is imperative to develop a proactive IP strategy for securing appropriate rights that are essential in leading to the success of a developer’s enterprise.

16th July 2019 by admin 0
treadmarks
UKIPO Grants a ‘Motion Mark’ for the First Time

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has granted a multimedia trademark (motion mark) to Toshiba, a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo. Toshiba had applied for Trademark Registration of its motion mark after the UK updated its guidelines earlier this year. Toshiba’s motion mark shows its logo zooming out with polygons displaying origami appearing and disappearing around it.

The company’s head of communications for its European operations, Matt McDowell, stated that Toshiba was not only honored but also thrilled at the same time for having been granted the first ever multimedia mark in the UK. He further added that Toshiba is synonymous with unwavering quality and innovation, and this initiative further shows that their brand’s identity guides the business in both communications and their behaviors in delivering the promises. Additionally, he also mentioned that while being a fast-looking and entrepreneurial firm, they have developed a new identity and reputation of their brand, which provides a consistent framework for all types of communication. Toshiba’s digital-first communication strategy is content-centric, due to which, the firm believed that it was imperative to trademark all aspects of their brand, along with the motion mark.

UKIPO CEO, Tim Moss, said that in today’s digital era, trademarks are likely to become increasingly creative as companies are now exploring imaginative ways of representing their unique brand’s identity by using innovative intellectual property. Moreover, he also stated that the submission of motion, hologram, and sound marks in a multimedia format under the amended law enables the examiner to precisely discover the real idea behind the proposed mark.

3rd July 2019 by admin 0
Intellectual_Property
Role of Intellectual Property in Sports

Innovation and creativity play a significant role in the world of sports. Each sporting field involves inventors and creators who work behind the scenes to push the boundaries and create new opportunities for the athletes to perform better. In sports, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio management services are always in action. For instance, Patents encourage technological advances that improve the sporting equipment. Trademarks, brand entities, and industrial designs contribute to the unique identity of teams and events. Copyrights generate the revenues required for supporters and broadcasters to invest in the expensive costs of broadcasting sports events across the world. Additionally, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) form the basis of licensing and merchandising agreements that further help in earning revenue to support developments in the sports industry.

 INVENTIONS AND PATENTS

Technological advancements have always played an essential role in the sports landscape; however, the advent of digital technologies has fuelled technology, more than ever before. Patent protected innovative technologies are now taking the sports industry to another level. These advances are changing the sports experience from the training field, to the sports stadium, all the way to our living room. Sports equipment installed with sensors and communication technologies is presently boundless. These smart innovations allow athletes and trainers at all levels to evaluate their performance and identify areas which require further improvement. Sports shoes and protective gear like helmets are made up of durable and light-weight innovative composite materials, which reduce the risk of injury for athletes and make sports safer. Furthermore, millions are invested in the sports stadium to make sure that fans access both physical and digital experiences. High-end Wi-Fi networks ensure a hassle-free fan experience and advanced broadcasting facilities; enable fans in distant places to get close to sporting action. Sports associates often collaborate with tech companies to ensure that sports content is shareable via social media, accessible on multiple devices, and interactive.

 INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS

In the field of technological developments and improvements, using new materials, patterns, designs, and ornaments are not far behind. The impact of Industrial Designs in the sports industry is far-reaching as they contribute to the unique identity of sports teams and their equipment. Designs play a critical role in adding commercial value to a sports product or event by making it more attractive and marketable. Industrial Design Protection safeguards the investments of new designs made in the sports industry.

BRANDING AND TRADEMARKS

Staging a sports event is an expensive affair. Efficient and strategic use of Trademarks enables the sports associations and businesses involved to build a strong reputation and generate ample revenue to cover up the costs of organizing such events. Trademark Rights support sports sponsorship deals, which can be extremely profitable. By perceiving global appeal and power of trademark as an advertising platform, companies in numerous sectors are turning to sports to build awareness of their items among purchasers, drive sales, and emerge in a swarmed and highly-competitive market. Nowadays, many sports associations also use their trademark and IP Rights to leverage the value of their brand’s entity by licensing them to third parties.

BROADCASTING AND COPYRIGHTS

Sports associations are highly dependent on broadcasters and supporters to transmit coverage of their events, connect with their fans all around the world, and attract sponsors. Copyrights support the connection between sports, television, and other media. While sports games do not usually qualify for Copyright Protection in general, media companies pay millions for obtaining the exclusive rights of broadcasting sports events live. Therefore, the largest source of revenue for most sports organizations now comes from the sale of broadcasting and media rights. The funds generated off-set the financing costs involved in organizing major sports events, and also contribute to the development costs.

 

CONCLUSION

In the sports industry, the strategic use of Intellectual Property Rights has significant potential, which can lead to economic development in many ways. From generating income from the sale of sports equipment to boosting international trade, IP rights can productively enhance a country’s reputation. Staging sports events at both national and international levels can enrich the social and cultural fabric of all countries. However, it is a matter of fact that yes; the business of sports requires a strong legal framework to support IP rights for managing the operational and logistical issues associated with organizing such sports events.  Therefore, all countries should integrate Intellectual Property and sports-related objectives into their nation’s development strategies to drive social and economic progress.

2nd July 2019 by admin 0
Protecting IP
Intellectual Property Theft

Intellectual Property (IP) theft refers to stealing or using someone else’s intellectual property without permission, which can be a commercial innovation, a new method having economic value or a distinctive mark like a logo, symbol, name used for commercial purposes. For instance, if someone knowingly uses, copies, or steals a logo belonging to another firm or individual, it would be considered as intellectual property theft.

For What Reason Does Intellectual Property Theft Occur?

Intellectual property theft occurs because it’s too easy, quick, cheap to commit, and highly profitable. Thieves often rationalize it as a victimless crime and are able to gain profits by copying someone else’s work, idea, or product without actually doing anything. They are least concerned with the consequences of unauthorized use ranging from robbing the original owners of their livelihood to damaging the business name and reputation. Several defenders of the IP theft are of the view that the very concept of intellectual property is theft. They strongly believe that ideas and innovations should always be free, and nobody should have the exclusive right to own information. Next is the concept of patent trolls. Very often, these individuals or businesses are seen not making anything of their own but rather buying licenses to patent their copied works so that they can sue others for infringement. IP pirates mostly come from foreign countries like China, South Korea, Russia, Vietnam, to name a few. Although offline violations can still be investigated with the help of standard methods, tracking them online is the toughest.

What Are The Types Of Intellectual Property Theft?

1. COPYRIGHT THEFT:

Copyright theft is most commonly and generally seen among published materials, computer software, movies, recorded music, computer software, to name a few.

2. TRADEMARK THEFT:

Trademark theft most commonly occurs when a person uses any other business’ symbol, logo, or name, which is unique to their brand identity.

3. PATENT THEFT:

Patent theft most commonly occurs when a person copies someone else’s patented invention without the owner’s permission or licensing.

How Can IP Be Protected From Theft?

Protecting IP from theft actually depends on which type of IP a person is trying to protect as each type has different levels of protection under the law. In a few cases, infringement of IP is even considered as a criminal offense.

For any type of intellectual property that is stolen, the first step generally involves drafting and sending a cease and desist notice. This letter lets the IP thieves know that they need to stop using or stealing your intellectual property.

The cease and desist notice must specify:

  • The intellectual property infringed upon.
  • The type of infringement.
  • The action required to deal with the infringement.
  • The time period for response and amendment

If the cease and desist notice turns out to be ineffective, then the case of IP theft can be handled in courts, where the owner fighting infringement can obtain:

  • An injunction commanding the other person to stop using the IP.
  • Compensation for losses.
  • Punitive damages.

How Can IP Be Protected From Theft?

Under IP Laws, the legal consequences of IP theft and infringement can result in harsh penalties like:

1. Several years of imprisonment.
2. Huge fine.
3. Seizure of stolen property.
4. Loss of license.
5. Lawsuits filed by the victim to recover monetary damages.
What Are The Defenses To IP Theft?

When accused of IP theft, the following defenses may help you from not being charged with a crime:

1. Lack of intent, where the accused person of IP theft did not knowingly attempt to steal or use the intellectual property for gaining profits.

2. Lack of ownership rights, where the plaintiff does not have Intellectual Property Protection to sue the accused for infringement.

3. Unclean hands defense, where the plaintiff was engaged in some kind of wrongdoing in the lawsuit filed itself, like waiting for a long time before suing even after coming to know about the Intellectual Property Infringement.

4. Fair use clause, where the person accused of IP theft could claim that the intellectual property was used under the fair use clause. Though very complicated, this defense would benefit only after taking help from an intellectual property attorney.

28th June 2019 by admin 0