What is Intellectual Property Theft?
Intellectual Property is anything that is created from using one’s mental power or intellect. Any creation such as designs, art work, literature, scientific or mathematical discovery can be termed intellectual property.
When a criminal steals this intellectual property, the crime is known as Intellectual Property (IP) Theft.
Due to the vast amount of information flowing in cyber space and ease in copying, such crimes are extremely prevalent.
What are the threats?
There are three types of criminals who commit IP theft.
- Ordinary users like us, who download free movies, games, music and software from the internet instead of buying them from the market.
- Fraudsters, who forge documents by copying logos, display formats and designs of established brands
- Cyber criminals, who resort to stealing market ideas and selling them to competitor companies
What are the risks?
People put in a lot of time and effort in their creations. Victims of IP theft suffer from a loss of these as well as
- Financial loss
- Loss of reputation
- Loss of credibility
