“Knowledge is power,” and it couldn’t be truer in the modern-day business world.
Whether it is marketing, competitor analysis, product research, investment decisions, mergers, acquisitions, or joint ventures, everything a business does is based on well-processed information.
It is safe to say that the data nowadays is intellectual property, and the last thing a business wants is for its competitors getting their hands on its intellectual assets.
Intellectual Properties And Cybercrimes: A Growing Concern
The protection of intellectual property is a mega challenge for businesses due to ever-growing cyber threats.
It is becoming increasingly challenging for the corporate world to store and share sensitive data safely.
Imagine if competitors get their hands on KFC’s secret recipe or Coca-Cola’s formula.
These companies would end up losing their competitive edge. What if something similar happens to your ideas or intellectual assets?
Businesses can minimize security threats greatly by using safe storage units like online data rooms, registering copyrights or trademarks, or using non-disclosure agreements.
How To Protect Your Intellectual Assets? 4 Essential Tips
1. Register Patents, Trademarks, And Copyrights
The first and most important thing to protect intellectual property is to get them acknowledged legally.
That said, depending on the nature of the IP, you can either obtain copyrights, patents or trademarks. These terms can be confusing for many, so here is a breakdown.
Patents
Patents are legal rights that prevent anyone from distributing or making intellectual properties like chemical composition, equipment, machinery, or a product without the permission of the person who owns the patents. A patent usually remains valid for 15-20 years.
Trademarks
Trademarks can be a logo, slogans, catchphrases, names, designs, or a symbol that a business or individual uses for marketing or business purposes.
Any other business entity or a person cannot use a trademark registered in someone else’s name for their own promotion or any similar activity.
Copyrights
Copyrights, in simple words, are legal ownership rights for any type of intangible or tangible creative work. These assets can be a drawing, images, sound, music tracks, etc.
2. Implement Strong Digital Security Measures
Trademarks or patents are not the solutions to preserve every IP. A newly formulated marketing campaign, findings or market research or clinical trials, or prototypes of a product also need protection.
How to keep them safe from cyber-attacks is the real challenge, and businesses can minimize such risks by employing tools like dataroom software.
What Is Data Room Software?
Virtual data room (VDR) software is a digital data storage and management tool specifically designed to safeguard highly sensitive corporate information.
A secure VDR boasts the latest digital security system that protects your intellectual properties from all external and internal threats.
Data Room Software Security
What makes online data room software different from other online storage tools is its multi-layered defense mechanism.
VDRs allow you to control who can access or use your information and to what extent. You can share sensitive data online while having 100% control over it.
That is why online data rooms are globally employed for fundraising, initial public offerings, clinical trials, and similar transactions that involve highly sensitive data.
Notable online data room features include multi-factor authorization, file access control, 256-bit SSL data encryption, digital watermarks, fence-view mode (limited view of documents), and device access control.
To find out more about virtual data rooms, their features, and benefits, head over to: dataroomreviews.org.
3. Create NDAs And Confidentiality Contracts For Partners And Employees
It is not always the outsiders or cybercriminals that pose threats to your sensitive business information.
Your own employees or partners can jeopardize your digital safety.
For example, you run a game or mobile application development company, and your developers are working on a game.
It would be wise to ask the developers (or people who are directly or indirectly involved in the process) to sign a confidentiality contract to keep everything secretive.
For that, you can ask them to sign NDAs (non-disclosure agreements).
Similarly, if your company is in a strategic partnership with another business entity or professional, you can ask them to sign NDAs and prevent the misuse or unauthorized disclosure of your sensitive data.
You can also keep communication and dealings transparent through online data rooms.
4. Avoid Joint Ownerships
Joint ownerships give other parties control over patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
Joint owners can legally recreate, copy, or distribute intellectual properties without other owners’ consent. It means you have less or no control over your IPs.
In addition to that, benefits and profits obtained from co-owned patents, trademarks, or copyrights are distributed among all owners.
Therefore, it is better to evade joint ownership to avoid complexities that may arise in the future.
Parting Thoughts
Intellectual properties are the most valuable assets for businesses, and failing to protect them can even eliminate your business from the market competition.
Businesses can protect their IPs by obtaining trademarks or patents, employing secure data storage platforms like data room software, and avoiding joint ownerships.
