In modern technological times, intellectual property has become the backbone of most companies. Each day, we hear more about people who have gotten hacked and lost everything. This can become confusing since no actual physical or tangible items were taken. So what is intellectual property? Intellectual property (IP) is anything that ranges from your company’s patents, and trademarks, to copyrights, or even trade secrets and company know-how. While these documents used to live in folders inside desk drawers that were locked at all times, with everything becoming digitized, so did IP.
Read on to know how to protect your intellectual property on the web.
Know Your IP
The first thing you need to do to protect your intellectual property is to actually know what it is! Just because you have people in charge of this, for instance, does not mean it is not vital that you are aware of what it is exactly. The more you know what it is, the more you understand it, and the more you can fully protect it and know who to hire to help you protect it. Not one person or one team should be in charge of this, the CSOs, CEO(s), COO(s) and, members of HR, marketing, sales, and other departments should be made aware of it and how to protect it properly.
Know Where Your IP Is
It will be near impossible for you to protect your intellectual property if you do not know where it is. Even though it can be stored within the IT systems, there are other areas where you can store it too. For instance, it can be stored in printers, copiers, scanners, and fax machines. It can also be stored in cloud applications or file-sharing services, and on employees’ devices. Knowing where your documents are saved will help you eradicate the possibility of unauthorized personnel acquiring them.
Hire Expert Lawyers
Most, if not all companies, have on-demand lawyers to protect the company from any liability. Some lawyers can be hired as well, namely those who specialize in online-specific cases such as litigation, trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other “internet” specific cases. The legal experts at https://revisionlegal.com suggest that trademark cases occur more often than not with businesses and with governments alike. Cases can get dismissed but if there is prior evidence that supports your case then expert lawyers will help you win and secure your right to the trademark or patent.
Secure Your IP & Maximize IT Efficiency
If you have your documents stored online and offline, you need to secure them as much as possible. You need to lock the rooms where they are kept. Some companies even have a couple of computers that have certain access to them and only a few people are able to access them. If these computers are kept in one room, lock that room and keep track of who has those keys. In case of a hacking incident, maximize the Information Technology department to have them work their best to eliminate the possibility of unwanted access.
Know Your IP Tools
Even though you might think that this should only be the IT’s job, you too should know which tools are in place or can be in place to maximize protection. There is software that protects online documents as well as software created for data loss prevention or DLP. This type of software will keep track of who accessed it, when, and how. You can also encrypt the files, yet that is not a requirement and might be an extra step to take and may not be as imperative. In general, knowing the tools and how they work will help you get more ideas as to how to protect your files and enable you to update the technology if need be.
Whether these documents are online or offline, they have their advantages and disadvantages. Going online and having an intellectual property, in this day and age specifically, is a lot more convenient given that communication and sharing become simpler and there are always several copies of your work. Having confidential information saved offline can be secure up until you lose that one key or fail to remember where you kept your documents.
With powerful security and all the necessary precautions taken, it can be much safer to keep confidential documents online. Take all the necessary steps and you most likely will not run into any issues. On the off chance that you do, you can hire lawyers to handle any sensitive information that you can’t find or suspect that it was stolen.
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