Copyright, Trademark, and Patent infringement

Criminal intellectual property theft offenses include copyright and trademark infringement and theft of trade secrets. Civil intellectual property suits include copyright, trademark, and patent infringement. When it comes to intellectual property theft, the image of the competitor across the city or even somewhere else in the country comes to mind. But the greatest threat of intellectual property theft comes from foreign countries, manufacturing counterfeit products using proprietary information and techniques, with the benefit of reduced labor costs and, in many cases, little or no government regulation.

Companies have a fiduciary obligation to investigate and pursue intellectual property theft, both to their shareholders and to their consumers. The value of a brand or product is greatly diminished by intellectual property theft, and counterfeit products. When trade secrets are compromised, corporations lose their competitive edge.

Intellectual property can be stolen by dishonest or terminated employees, competitors, or even people just looking to make money selling your secrets. A few examples of trade secrets that are at-risk for IP theft include:

• Manufacturing techniques
• Sales techniques, presentations and proposals
• Proprietary computer software
• Documents and information pertaining to relationships with clients and vendors
• Chemical formulas
• Analytical tools and equations

Think about what is stored in your computer systems, or in your file cabinets and facilities, and what the consequences would be if any of that information were in the hands of a competitor, or even a company in a foreign country, with the ability to exploit that information.

Iovino IPS can assist you in every step of detecting and curtailing IP theft. That includes not only locating distributors of counterfeit products, but also tracing the supply chain all the way back through the distributors and finally back to the manufacturer. Legal action can then be taken to halt the entire process and ensure that your brand reputation is secure. In cases involving theft by employees, we can use various methods of finding out exactly what was stolen and whose hands the information is in now.

Investigating Intellectual Property Theft is just one component of a comprhensive security plan. Call us today to schedule an appointment for a security evaluation at your facility.