INTRODUCTION:

In the modern era, Intellectual property (IP) is considered as the lifeblood of most of the organization working in a competitive environment where new innovations and ideas are so common which it didn’t use to be a few years back because of which, now they are needed more than ever. Intellectual Property Rights protection is a very complex and important duty which consists of various aspects that fall under the purview of legal bodies, Information Technology (IT), human resources available in the working environment and various other departments. The latest inventions emerging any day every hour such as any political or social advancements or any methods to deal with maximising profit-making in one’s life have been originated in the minds of people. Intellectual Property (IP) is a very essential and one of the most valued resource. Intellectual property can be distinguished into various factors which are the main driver of revenue for many organizations intellectual property can be distinguished from various types of patents and copyrights to different industrial designs and trade secrets. Intellectual Property is classified as a general term which is widely acceptable which talks about the set of any intangible assets which are owned and legally protected by a company from any outside use or implementation with out consent of the rightful creator, inventor or legal right holder.

WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PROPRIETARY RIGHTS?

Anything can be considered as the Intellectual Property of the business which may vary from a simple manufacturing process to great plans for a new product launch, or any trade secrets of a business like some specialised or particular chemical formula which is of great importance to the business which is being used in their daily activity, or a list of the countries in which the intellectual property rights of the business are registered and enforceable. According to The World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO’s) the formal definition of Intellectual Property is any creations of the mind inventions such as literary or artistic work, any symbols or names, images and designs which are being used in commerce. 

Proprietary Rights basically includes or talks about all the items which are owned by or are licensed to a Company, any and all associated corresponding rights which are affected by the laws which are at the beginning or prior to Closing, may be secured by the Company throughout the world.

DO YOU KNOW THE VALUE OF YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY? WATCH THIS VIDEO TO KNOW MORE - 

HOW TO KEEP INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SAFE?

If a person’s Intellectual Property is stolen or is misused them catching the culprit is a difficult task, fast track punishing them is even harder, and getting the stolen property, or information back is generally considered impossible. That’s why it’s the need of the hour and is very important for the Chief security officer (CSO) and chief risk officer (CRO) to get involved in the protection of Intellectual Property. The steps to follow for keeping one’s intellectual property protected are:

1. To Know what kind intellectual property is concerned;
2. To Know where one’s intellectual property stands;
3. Prioritizing one’s intellectual property;
4. Considering Label valuable of the concerned intellectual property;
5. Securing one’s intellectual property in both the ways physically and digitally;
6. Educating one’s employees about the importance and need for Intellectual property;
7. Knowing one’s legal tools and various remedies for protecting intellectual property;
8. Keeping a view of the bigger picture which will be affected in future;
9. Using a counter-intelligence mindset;
10. Thinking globally rather than locally.

STRATEGIES FOR PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ARE:

Strategies with legal support must be used in the business which will eventually result in strong business practices and secure important assets, information and infrastructure to ensure that the confidential information of the business will not be compromised. Various steps in different strategies for the said protection which are to be kept in mind are:

1. OFFERING EMPLOYEE WITH PROPER TRAINING AND INCENTIVES:

When any business-related confidential information is misused and improperly disclosed, it’s mostly through the employees of the business. But the company or the owner or the person heading the organization is capable of reducing the risk of disclosures which will eventually be resulting from employee negligence by periodically reinforcing confidentiality policies of the business.

2. USING DATA ENCRYPTION METHODS:

If any unauthorized user acquires the access to a company’s device or the network which is being used or created by the company, and in case the data is not protected through encryption, then that unauthorised user can immediately steal all the important or the confidential information of the business which they find. There are many information protection software tools which are developed for such situations which a business can use to encrypt their drives, files, email and all the other various sources which consist of important business information.

• Tools for Password integrity: Tools such as LastPass or 1Password both offer an enterprise or “specialised team” with access to globally manage passwords and other sensitive information associated or generated within the organizations. 
• Multifactor authentication for better protection of accessibility: Even if any unauthorized user gains access to the password to some sensitive or any kind of business information, they’ll still be required to provide the software with some additional information before they can access any of the businesses important data.

3. CHECK AND CONTROL WHO CAN ACCESS SENSITIVE INFORMATION:

The business must make sure full visibility over where critical information is stored is maintained, and who is given administrative privileges to access such rights to that sensitive information.

• Data controlling methods: Using a file management system which allows the business to set up a protocol of permissions by the users and administrative group.
• Physical controlling method: Physically secure the rooms which contain sensitive material and important business information, and set a proper restriction system on who can gain access to such rooms and information or material stored in the rooms.

4. CHOOSING THE APPROPRIATE CLOUD-BASED SERVICE METHOD:

Nowadays many companies prefer to move their data to cloud-based services and use it as the best protective method. As a result, when applications which protect sensitive information through their security protocol alone may prove out to be less secure than the cloud-based service methods.

5. REGULATING THE USE OF CLOUD-BASED SERVICES:

As these days the cloud-based systems are growing to be more popular, the boundaries between personal devices and work devices have also reduced to a large extent. But this means that the employees of the business can sync company’s data in their personal devices, which eventually leads to creating a risk of compromising confidential information of the business because of which a business should set various data security policies and procedures.

6. SECURELY BACKING UP IMPORTANT BUSINESS FILES:

Important Data losses can take place at any company’s resources, so backing up everything with multiple redundancies and highly protective security measures is a very smart thing to do for keeping information safe and ready to be used when required. If a business doesn’t keep a back-up plan at all for their information and in future due to some difficult situations, losses their data, so they are not just losing their hard work that went into producing it, but they are also losing valuable Intellectual Property of the business.

7. CONDUCTING REGULAR TESTS AND AUDITS INSIDE THE FIRM:

Making sure that the business is regularly assessing its IT infrastructure through various penetration testing as well as network-security audits which will eventually help in detecting any security vulnerabilities of a business that any hacker can exploit and use sensitive information of the business creating great losses or damages to the business.

WANT TO KNOW HOW TO PROTECT YOUR WEBSITES AND SOFTWARES UNDER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY? WATCH THIS VIDEO - 

BY- GAURAV GUPTA