Most people do not know, but intellectual property theft is real. The general public needs to know private investigators protect owners against IP theft. Even the US government gets involved in IP protection.
What is Intellectual Property Theft?
The FBI states Intellectual property theft involves robbing persons or companies of their ideas, inventions, and/or creative expressions.
The concept may be a little vague because there are several types of intellectual property:
Those types of intellectual property are:
- Patents
- Trademarks
- Copyrights
- Trade Secrets
- Personal Image, Privacy
3 Scenarios of Intellectual Property Theft
To make things more real we present you with 3 scenarios where a person can be accused of intellectual property theft, specifically with copyright violations:
1.-Using a cable or satellite home license for commercial purposes
Cable and satellite companies have different fees for home and commercial distribution. If you have a home contract, you cannot transfer that service to a commercial setting.
Some restaurant owners may not know that bringing their home cable equipment to their bars or restaurants is illegal. Moreover, is also illegal to force decoders or broadcast a cell phone-licensed video inside a restaurant or bar.
This is an easy way to get slapped by a copyright lawsuit in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Owners’ agents patrol bars and restaurants during popular sporting events such as boxing, soccer, and football matches to catch violators.
Restaurant and bar owners must be sure they are paying the commercial fees for their cable or satellite service.
2.-Posting images from the internet.
You can get into trouble if you download protected images. There are firms monitoring the rights of entities such as Getty Images, and many news agencies. To be on the safe side, subscribe to a stock photography site with extended legal rights such as Fotosearch for the images you post on your website.
In short, do not publish photos that do not belong to you.
3.-Sharing information from your previous job on social media.
This is an important one. Big organizations train their employees on IP issues, but medium or small size usually don’t. This may create the impression that you can post things related to your current or past work online. It may not be a wise decision.
Be very careful in what you post on social media.
Attorney Marcos E. Garciaacosta is an intellectual property and business attorney. He has helped clients litigating and settling Intellectual Property lawsuits. Call us for a free 15 minutes phone consultation to review your options.