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How can I protect my organization�s Intellectual Property?

Home » Entrepreneurship » Intellectual Property » How can I protect my organization�s Intellectual Property?

The following list is just a place to start. There are many additional things to consider, such as, knowing what security tools are available and employee education. Each company must assess their intellectual property protection needs and proceed in creating the best protection possible for the organization�s environment.

Know what you have. If all employees understand what needs to be protected, they can better understand how to protect it, and whom to protect it from. To adequately protect intellectual property, security officers must communicate on a consistent basis with the executives who oversee intellectual capital.

Make it a priority. Security officers suggest that organizations determine what information, if lost, would hurt your company the most and which of those assets are most at risk of being stolen. Putting those two factors together should help you figure out where to best spend your protective and financial efforts.

Label it. If information is confidential, put a label on it that says so. If your company data is proprietary, put a note to that effect on every log-in screen. This may seem trivial, but if you wind up trying to prove that a person took information they weren't authorized to take, your argument won't be valid if you can't prove that the information was clearly protected.

Lock it up. Physical and digital protection is a must. Lock the rooms where sensitive data is stored; whether it's the electronic storage facility or the file room where paper copies are kept. Keep track of who has keys, use passwords and limit employee access to important databases.

Look at the whole. Take a "big picture" view of security. An employee could be accessing information in many different ways that can appear to be accidental. It may seem like isolated incidents if no one puts together that multiple breaches were all committed by the same person. Intellectual property protection requires communication between all the corporate functions.

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