BIFRANCHISE
| Joined: | 2009-02-16 |
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| Posts: | 1253 |
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Theft of Intellectual Property – copying, imitating, re-creating, replicating, or simulating creative works or ideas embodied in a form that can be shared or can enable others to recreate, emulate, or manufacture them. The intangible nature and the relative portability of this kind of property make it easy to steal and difficult to protect. These attractive characteristics, when added to the high value of some kinds of intellectual property and proprietary technology, can lead to theft by other businesses, which is known as industrial espionage and costs legitimate companies vast amounts annually in lost sales and business opportunities. The Internet, computer networks, and automated data systems present an enormous new opportunity for committing criminal activity. Computers and other electronic devices are being used increasingly to commit, enable, or support crimes perpetrated against persons, organizations, or property. Whether the crime involves attacks against computer systems, the information they contain, or more traditional crimes such as money laundering, trafficking, or fraud, electronic evidence increasingly is involved. Theft of a company's intellectual property is an all too common occurrence. IP, including technological trade secrets, product designs, customer lists, distribution channel details, third-party licensed IP, industrial designs, price discount schedules, and marketing collateral, might be providing the competition with a competitive advantage. Theft of intellectual property may be associated with a breach of an employment contract by employees or former employees, or the competition may be making use of a company's fundamental technology without paying royalties. According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the basic precautions for protecting your intellectual property from industrial or economic espionage include:
• avoid discussion of sensitive information where the discussion might be monitored or overheard
• observe good communications security with technologies such as cell phones and open fax or telephone lines
• educate all employees about the dangers of intellectual property loss, including the fact that it may jeopardize the company's survival and their job security.
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