Protecting intellectual property is an essential action far too many businesses still don’t realize is more than necessary. Even worse, those same businesses don’t realize the implications beyond hurting their potential for profit. In reminders from IT experts this last year, we see that the theft of intellectual property is starting to make a major impact financially on businesses. In turn, the U.S. economy and the process of innovation could be rattled to its core soon if IP theft is allowed to continue.
What the Reports Say
It all starts in a report from last September from Industry Week and citing an article from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. In the article cited and written by Steven Ezell for The Hill, it’s noted just how important IP is to the foundation of the American economy. We’re brought back to the fact that industries running on the power of IP make up $5.1 billion to our GDP. It’s a wake-up reminder of how IP makes up the true fabric of innovation in America and how dangerous it becomes once it becomes threatened.
It truly is threatened when you consider how the IP Commission Report cited in the same article above shows dire figures on the cost of IP theft. It’s now on the level of a national emergency that not nearly enough people are paying attention to. Most of this comes from theft overseas and particularly China. Ezell above criticized the Government Accountability Office testimony in D.C. that disregarded the IP Commission report. The GAO said the data was too vast to provide any logical solution.
Is it true that the subject of IP theft is so complex that it’s going to take years to actually repair it? If so, it could mean IP theft will start to take major bites into the economy during a time when so many are desperate to get the economy back to a better place. But is it really complex to the point that individual businesses can’t take actions of their own? As with many other issues, sometimes starting locally to solve diffuse problems can make more of a difference than starting at the federal level.
How Businesses Can Take Action to Help the Economy
While shipments of IP overseas has to be a federal government problem, the actual protection of IP through the Internet is one that requires a stronger commitment to more secure IT tech. Investing in better encryption and other protective software can certainly be a challenge for a business on a budget, yet can help stop a very serious domino effect.
It’s why those of us here at Traklight created the IP Vault as a way to protect IP in a much more secure way. Rather than using free cloud-based servers that are far from secure, you can count on us to keep things monitored around the clock.
This is just one IP service we provide that’s helping solve the growing IP security problem that every business needs to take seriously. Contact us and we’ll also help you track down IP in your business you might not have known was there and may perhaps be threatened. Let us help you take part in protecting your own intellectual property while helping repair the U.S. economy. Now that you know how vast IP theft is in its implications, you can do your part to help restore innovation in America.