Whether in the commercial or artistic industries, intellectual property theft is a problem. What is intellectual property? Intellectual property is any innovation, method or formula with economic value. It can also be any unique name, logo or symbol that you use for your business. Intellectual property may also come in the form of trademarks, copyrights and patents. These are not always tangible things but instead ideas or creative works that can others can steal for a property. So, what is intellectual property theft?
To commit intellectual property theft is relatively simple, according to the National Crime Prevention Council. The only thing that thieves have to do is copy someone else’s product or that person’s ideas. The person may be a person, organization or any other entity. What happens is that one person does a lot of work and the thieves then take the profit.
A person may take your property or misappropriate it. For instance, if you have a company logo, another person can steal that logo and use it for his or her business. This is theft. By taking your logo, the other person may believe it will lead to increase sales or he or she plans to hurt your reputation.
Intellectual property theft may not sound serious at first but it can cost people their place of employment. It can also hurt a person’s reputation. While intellectual property theft may initially seem like a victimless crime, it is far from victimless. Depending on the stolen property, it can have serious consequences towards the victim and the industry the intellectual property comes from.
