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Businesses failing to protect intellectual property online
New research has revealed businesses are not taking as much care to safeguard intellectual property online compared to how they protect assets offline.
Online brand protection underestimated?
The study, undertaken by online brand protection specialist NetNames, found that 79 per cent of brands have no-one taking responsibility for protecting online assets at board-level and 60 per cent have no system in place to protect intellectual property online, despite the overwhelming majority agreeing that protecting online assets will become more important, or remain just as important, over the next year.
Disconnect
The report took in the views of 100 UK business executives and found a wide disconnect between attitudes to online and offline assets.
Although 92 per cent of executives have proactive processes in place to defend IP offline, just 40 per cent introduced systems to protect their online IP.
Recognition
Gary McIlraith, chief executive officer at NetNames, commented: ‘Online assets such as corporate colours, brand names and logos are all valuable trademarks that contribute to a company’s success and recognition in the marketplace. Any online infringement of trademarks, or false claims of association by more questionable organisations, can damage trust in a reputable brand, lead to revenue loss or have a negative impact on search rankings.
‘The new face of digital crime is often unseen so today’s businesses must be forward-thinking and take precautions to ensure that trademarks are effectively protected by developing the ability to identify online violations and quickly take action to remove any infringements.’
