DID YOU KNOW?

Throughout 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) sponsored a public-private partnership, the Analytic Exchange Program (AEP), in which analysts and experts from government, academia, and the private sector formed teams to collaborate and address a number of “over-the-horizon” topics facing the United States. Among these topics, DHS and ODNI identified “Intellectual Property Theft” as a significant, persistent challenge to businesses and government.

After consulting with a number of key stakeholders, the team addressing intellectual property theft drafted a white paper for corporate executives and U.S. policy-makers. This paper, “Intellectual Property Rights Across the Product Life Cycle“, highlights existing and emerging risks to intellectual property protection. The team approached this task from a business perspective, researching opportunities and risks associated with intellectual property protection at different stages in the innovation and product development lifecycle, including the stages of

This engagement with corporate security experts and brand protection professionals led to two key findings:

The team found that, regardless of the stage in the identified innovation lifecycle, mitigation strategies to intellectual property infringement and theft fall into three broad categories: legal measures, physical and digital network security, and human measures.

LEGAL MEASURES

Measures range from the implementation of non-disclosure agreements among investors and collaborators in the “Research and Development” stage to the enforcement of vendor compliance agreements, press or review embargoes, and civil action or referrals to criminal prosecution at later stages of the innovation and product development lifecycle.

PHYSICAL & DIGITAL NETWORK SECURITY MEASURES

 Measures can include the establishment of policies and procedures governing the development and sharing of electronic data during “Manufacturing and Testing” or “Sales and Marketing” phases, as well as investment in security hardware, tools, and controls early in the innovation and product development lifecycle.

HUMAN MEASURES

Measures can include a wide range of intellectual property theft mitigation strategies, such as frequent employee training on confidentiality and protecting proprietary information, to consumer awareness campaigns against counterfeiting and piracy, to an emphasis on valuing and protecting intellectual property and network security during mergers and acquisitions in the “Financial Gains and Sustainability” stage of the innovation and product development lifecycle.

The AEP team also developed a one-page ”Cheat Sheet” (see p. 9 of link) identifying specific measures businesses can and should take to protect their intellectual property, and addressing some of the most common means by which intellectual property theft has occurred.

Business and economic success depend on innovation, and Intellectual property protection is key to safeguarding innovation. While intellectual property protection can seem daunting, including challenges of how to protect proprietary business information communicated through internet-enabled manufacturing equipment to cloud-based networks, the AEP team outlines how addressing these risks can be turned into opportunities to differentiate companies from competitors who do not take intellectual property protection seriously. For further information, please contact AEP@HQ.DHS.GOV 

*This article was authored by the Department of Homeland Security 2017 Public-Private Analytic Exchange Program’s “Intellectual Property Rights” Topic Team. 

THE BRAND PROTECTION PROFESSIONAL | MARCH 2018 | VOLUME 3 NUMBER 1
2018 COPYRIGHT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES