Gone are the days when physical assets were considered the most critical in any business organization. In the past, these vital assets included machines, vehicles, buildings, employees, and all other materials used within one company.
However, the expansion of the internet and digital transformation completely reshaped the business landscape. With it, the importance of assets changed beyond recognition. Nowadays, intellectual property is the most valuable asset of any business.
Whether we’re talking about a logo, brand name, patent, trade secret, or something entirely else, every organization needs to get on board with the importance of intellectual property protection and how it helps keep your company secure for Geonode Proxies.
What is IP protection?
Modern businesses are required to conduct their operations over the internet. In this digital environment, brands and business organizations are well aware of the cyber threats that are lurking around every corner online.
These companies are working around the clock to protect everything they possess, from the physical property to data and digital assets. Essentially, intellectual property can be anything from patents and creations of the mind to trading secrets and so on.
Since there are so many possibilities on the table, it’s best to describe the intellectual property by including:
- Trademarks – trademarks are usually the essential part of the intellectual property of any business. They include sounds, symbols, phrases, slogans, names, logos, and everything else that makes your brand recognizable.
- Copyrights – copyrights refer to more creative and artistic works, such as paintings and other forms of fine arts, songs, poems, literary works, novels, and more. Any expression of an idea can be copyrighted to protect it from potential theft.
- Patents – the best way to protect your inventions and creations of the mind is by patenting them. A patent protects your inventions from unlicensed and unauthorized productions.
- Trade secrets – anything can be seen as a trade secret. If you have such valuable information in your possession, you can protect it by registering it as a trade secret.
Intellectual property protection can best be described as a strategy that allows your brand to protect its name, logos, products, trade secrets, valuable information, and everything else from prying eyes and hackers.
Those who attempt to steal your intellectual property do that to achieve their own goals and earn profits. That’s why you should take some time to get into the protection and security of your IP.
Why is it relevant for businesses?
Even though the number of data breaches and cyber-attacks is increasing rapidly, according to some statistics, many businesses still fail to realize the importance of protecting their intellectual property until it’s already too late.
Because of that, they often fall victim to various forms of infringement and counterfeiting actions. IP protection essentially protects your business from:
- Counterfeiting – any attempt to use your brand’s name to sell your products and other goods without your consent permission is considered counterfeiting.
- Copyright infringement – any unauthorized use of your copyrighted property.
- Design theft – any unauthorized attempt to sell your products by mimicking their appearance is considered a design theft.
- Trademark infringement – unauthorized use of symbols, phrases, logos, and all other patterns associated with your brand.
- Patent theft – any unauthorized attempt to sell or manufacture patented products.
IP protection allows you to maintain your reputation, nurture a healthy relationship with your customers, clients, partners, and suppliers, improve sales, grow your business, and get ahead of the competition curve. In the modern world of the internet, it’s safe to say that IP protection is the lifeblood of your business.
Types of IP protection approaches
When it comes to protecting your IP, there are two paths you can take – proactive and reactive.
The proactive approach includes measures you can take to prevent any unauthorized use of your IP and take action in the event of IP abuse. In contrast, the reactive approach means responding to violations that already took place or are happening at the moment.
1) Proactive
Being proactive with your IP protection allows you to achieve more by creating worthy incentives to instill effective IP management. You can achieve that by taking the following steps:
- Develop a management systems approach – create a system that will protect every aspect of your business both across the supply chain and internally, and will include all responsible executives.
- Make all your potential IP problems and practices clearly visible to all in your company – if all your employees, clients, partners, and chain members know about potential problems and IP practices, you can create an effective IP monitoring and management system across every vertical of your organization.
- Take measures to respond to violations and employ preventive practices – since it’s always best to prevent problems before they escalate, provide training to employ preventive practices, identify risk factors, and act accordingly. Don’t be afraid to take legal action in the event of an IP infringement to set an example.
2) Reactive
The best reactive measures would be:
- Protect your IP and monitor the web with web scraping (read more what Oxylabs says about smooth data gathering for intellectual property protection)
- Add watermarks;
- Trademark everything;
- Identify duplicate content by using web crawling;
- Register your business and let everyone know what your assets are;
- Label your property;
- Have your employees, partners, clients, and suppliers sign non-disclosure agreements;
- Invest in cybersecurity;
- Hire professional and legal help.
The downsides of ignoring IP protection
If you ignore IP protection, you risk letting someone else assume your brand and your business’s online identity. You could lose your customers, employees, partners, clients, and the entire supply chain, and in the worst-case scenario, face bankruptcy.
You could also face infringement lawsuits, financial penalties, and express damages, lose your trade secrets, and more. That’s something most businesses never fully recover from, so it’s best not to leave anything to chance.
Conclusion
Ip protection is critical in the digital age. Even though it may seem like a challenging task, it is what ensures your business stays afloat and on course. Once you get ahead of it, it will become ordinary practice. Just have your entire staff on board with it to take action promptly, and the rest is history.
