Thursday, November 26, 2009 ISSUE 34   HOME Intellectual property protection. Amy Zecher, IPSA international It is fourth down and the offense is on the 2 yard line with 3 seconds left in the game. The team is down 6 so they must score to tie. The coaches decide to run a play they have used only twice, yet both times have been successful. The offense runs the play, but the defense knows what is coming and stops the offense short of a touchdown. The game is over and the opposition emerges victorious. But how could the defense have known what to expect? This is a play that has been kept under wraps and used only twice before. The defense won by accessing the intellectual property of the offense through competitive intelligence and subsequently used it to their advantage. This and other sporting events are covered today by more camera angles than one can imagine. The opposing teams do everything in their power to see all of those angles at all times. They have teams of people monitoring cameras from every point of the field to catch even the slightest glimpse of the opposing team’s coach calling a play or to see which players look like they are getting ready to go onto the field. Identifying game plans By studying a team’s games over the course of a season, an opponent can gain great insight into what that team is trying to do against them. This type of competitive intelligence research and investigation is not only used in the sports world but also in countless industries to help companies learn more about its competitors in a given market and possibly provide a competitive edge. Why is there a strong link between competitive intelligence and intellectual property? Intellectual property (IP) is considered any intangible asset that consists of human knowledge and ideas. In the past several years, for some companies, IP has become one of their most valuable assets. But IP has also become more visible, especially in the courts. Having a competitive intelligence team that can conduct due diligence for a company has become extremely important, especially in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors. Advances in technology give competitive intelligence teams significantly more resources that they can utilize to conduct due diligence. The Internet alone has accelerated the speed that companies have in obtaining general insights about a competitor. Beyond patents, hearings and trade shows Another main focus of competitive intelligence research is the intellectual property of competitors. By tracking patent, trademark and copyright filings, following congressional hearings and following the competition at trade shows, the intellectual property of one’s competition can be openly identified. No matter to what industry an organization belongs or how many employees an organization has, companies possess some form of intellectual property. Intellectual property is no longer merely copyrights, trademarks or patents, but includes a myriad of other information. For example, if a company’s website includes a client list or provides employee names and company information, this is intellectual property (or intellectual capital) that can be very valuable to competitors. Because so much corporate information is so easily attainable by the competition, all of these things factor into the field of competitive intelligence. For example, if a competitor cuts their prices, the competitive intelligence teams of similar companies will immediately begin to research the “how and why” behind the reduction in costs. Is it because the competition has developed a new trademark and is about to change brand names or is it because they are having some rough economic times? Protection of intellectual assets Intellectual property theft in North America was $240 billion in 1999. [Intellectual Property Protection: CI Solutions Group, http://www.cisolutionsgroup.com/intelproperty.html  ] Why is this dollar amount so high? Because it is very easy for intellectual property and intellectual capital to be acquired in both authorized and unauthorized manners. This is partly because less than 5% of all companies have developed a strategy to prevent theft of their intellectual property and the majority of companies have no established definition of intellectual property in place. Adding to this problem is the lack of training of employees on the importance of confidentiality with regard to intellectual property. Many employees inadvertently offer information about their company to competitors. The websites of many companies offer great resources into what types of products or services they are developing while other companies’ websites, such as IBM’s, provide organizations with the ability to track their competitor’s patent filings all in a completely legal manner. In addition, because of the lack of protection strategies, disgruntled employees can pose a major threat to many corporations without the corporations even realizing it is happening. Internal vulnerabilities When a competitor launches a product similar or identical to yours, it is too late to speculate whether or not the ideas could have come from within your organization. For example, a company is in the process of developing a new patent and is getting very close to having it approved. At the same time, the economy is bad and it has been announced that a round of layoffs will hit at the end of the month. One employee, under the assumption that his number is up, has decided to take information off of the network from different departments within the company. One of these happens to be the patent that is about to go to market. While the company can go after the employee for violating corporate policies and other crimes, it is already too late -- their intellectual property has been compromised.   Eighty percent of all company theft is by someone who works within the organization, clearly indicating that companies cannot ignore this issue. [Your Role in Securing Data: Best Practices for Computer Users, Mike Conlon, Ph.D. CIO UF Health Science Center, PowerPoint Presentation & Asset Surveillance: Employee Theft, http://www.assetsurveillance.com .] But how much protection is enough, and how does an organization develop an environment that promotes this protection? Many organizations assume their employees are loyal and will follow the golden rule when it comes to intellectual property. But statistics clearly indicate one cannot always assume this is the case. Protection policies and processes Many organizations use non-compete, confidentiality and other types of contracts that employees are required to sign. However, to make these agreements worthwhile organizations must be sure to enforce them. Failure to do so can result in other employees assuming that they can violate the same agreements in the future with no recourse. In addition to individual contracts with employees, organizations can utilize either an internal or external source to follow up on suspicious activities. Another good approach is to conduct training sessions to ensure that employees are taking appropriate steps to protect the company’s intellectual property. CI research on yourself Finally, organizations can utilize their own competitive intelligence groups to conduct research on themselves to ensure that the company is not inadvertently making their intellectual property available to the general public. For example, if an organization is constantly monitoring the risk and development of its competitors, they should also determine how easy it is for competitors to access the same information about their company. If a company’s own competitive intelligence team can get access to this information, then so can everyone else’s. In a world where technology advances by the minute, there is no way for a company to completely avoid leakage of some of its information. One cannot provide consumers with up to date information on products and services that will ultimately result in additional intellectual property exposure without competitors having access to this information as well. However, with a well-educated work force and a strong competitive intelligence group in place, the possibility of loss, leakage and theft can be reduced greatly and the likelihood of scoring that touchdown can increase dramatically. Background Amy Zecher  is the director of consulting services for the Midwest Region of IPSA International, Inc. Her primary responsibilities include management of consulting and litigation support services in areas such as intellectual property, white-collar crime, business intelligence, trial strategies and physical security and risk assessments. Amy has seven years of experience in risk management consulting, investigative and litigation support services and has published articles and lectured on the topics of transportation and high-rise building security. You can reach her directly at IPSA International, 53 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 619, Chicago, IL 60604. 312.957.9400; Email: azecher@ipsaintl.com . Copyright Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals scip.online, issue 34, June 20, 2003 [PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION] There are no letters available. [POST]

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