The crippling effects of intellectual property theft

Intellectual property theft is no laughing matter: it costs businesses billions of dollars every year and robs the nation itself of jobs and tax revenues. Intellectual property theft involves robbing people or organizations of their inventions, ideas, and creative expressions, which can range from software to proprietary parts to trade secrets.

Image source: Pixabay.com   

With the rise of more sophisticated digital technologies and Internet file sharing networks, IP theft is a serious threat requiring proactive attention, and should not be an afterthought. Laws can be quite lax and enforcement can be very difficult, and the infringement hurts not just businesses but also the health and safety of consumers. Counterfeit cars, aircraft, and electronics, for instance, can be dangerous for public use.

Image source: Pixabay.com   

Compared with more familiar crimes such as credit card theft, IP cyber theft can be tougher to address and garners less public attention. Unlike the direct impact of more common cybercrimes, its ramifications are harder to understand.  These include fewer upfront direct costs but potential effects that might balloon in months and years.  Losing IP, for one, can lead to forfeiture of first-to-market advantage, loss of profitability, and losing entire lines of business to counterfeiters or competitors.

Espionage activities are also widely used in IP theft, to a scale that triggers a national security emergency. Cyber espionage can cost U.S. companies hundreds of billions of dollars in losses as well as over 2 million lost jobs.

Many businesses today create and own staggering volumes of intellectual property. While its value is hard to quantify, IP is usually a critical source of competitive advantage, and today it’s a handy target for bad elements. 

MEM Concessions LLC is founded by Michael E. Melton, who has enjoyed a distinguished career as an Intellectual Property attorney and is a partner at Norris & Melton P.L.L.C located in Washington, DC. Learn more about his practice areas on this page.