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Introduction

In the same way as the law recognizes ownership rights in material possessions such as automobiles, land and buildings, it also grants the same rights to intangible or incorporeal property such as the expression of an idea or an invention. This area of legislation is known as the law relating to Intellectual Property (IP). Such law protects intellectual property rights in distinct areas which include Trademarks, Patents, Copyright, Industrial Designs and Trade Secrets. Other than the commonly known crime of theft of material property, the theft of Intellectual Property is also an offence. This brief article aims at providing some insight into the issues pertaining to IP theft and the measures that can be adopted to safeguard the intellectual property rights.
Recognition of Intellectual Property Rights
Whilst burglars can rob a house or steal a car, it is not possible to steal the thoughts contained within the mind of a person. However, such thoughts and ideas can be copied, imitated or duplicated once these enter the public domain. The law provides protection to a person’s own unique ideas, creations and inventions (in other words intellectual property) from being copied or taken away by others through illegal means. In this area, states and nations recognize and grant certain rights to the owners of intellectual property to ensure that their intellectual property is not copied, pirated, counterfeited or otherwise stolen by others and such rights are called intellectual property rights.
Theft of Intellectual Property
Since the theft of any material property is considered to be a crime against the public at large, it is deemed to be a criminal offence. However, the theft of intellectual property is considered to be a civil offence. For instance plagiarism is a civil offence imposing a penalty or fine on the individual, firm or corporation that unlawfully copies or reproduces the words or ideas of the originator. Today’s world is facing the growing threat of theft of intellectual property belonging to individuals, big businesses and huge enterprises causing great monetary loss to these parties. Almost every part of the world is suffering from the crucial issue of IP theft resulting in unlawful gain to those who have not contributed their intellect in creating the intellectual property. Although, most nations have well framed laws to protect the IP rights of owners and to penalise the violators, the issues of IP theft such as producing goods bearing someone else’ trademark, copying and reproducing the artistic work of the original creator or otherwise counterfeiting products by adopting the name, logo, shape or design of the products of original IP owner, are increasing substantially.

Hazards of IP Theft

  • Huge monetary loss to the owners of the intellectual property.
  • Wrongful gain to the violators who reap the benefits of those who actually created the Intellectual Property in the first place
  • Loss of goodwill to the originator of the trademark, service mark or inventor of the patent and design.
  • Cause of confusion in the minds of consumers and buyers by way of depicting that the goods and products bearing a particular shape, design or trademark are coming from the original source although this has not been the case.
  • Unnecessary litigation between the parties upon detection of the theft thereby causing problems to the real owners for no fault of their own.
  • Goods and services of inferior quality being passed off as the original products thus damaging the integrity of the owner of the intellectual property.

Measures to protect the Intellectual Property

In order to prevent the growing threats of IP theft, the owners must be aware of the rights that the law provides to them. The following steps should be taken to ensure the protection of intellectual property.
  • IP registration with the relevant registration authorities.
  • Publication of cautionary notices in the leading and recognized newspapers.
  • Monitoring of the market constantly and watching cautionary notices to see if the owners’ rights are not being infringed.
  • Registration of assignment and licensing agreement while assigning or licensing the IP rights to other parties.
  • Initiation of proper action against violators by registering the case with the law enforcing agencies.

Conclusion

Pursuant to the above, it is apparent that while there are growing issues pertaining to the theft of intellectual property in most regions, owners should be well acquainted with the rights available to them for the protection of their unique creations and inventions, and if any case of theft of intellectual property is detected, proper and timely steps should be taken against violators.
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