An intellectual property investigation is a niche type of private investigator assignment which is used to safeguard non-tangible, but legally protected properties. Intellectual property describes creative or commercial inventions, including trade names, logos, symbols, music, art, literature, ideas, proprietary concepts, inventions, slogans, phrases and other ethereal commodities. Intellectual property theft is a serious problem and professional investigators can help to apprehend and prosecute criminals who infringe on protected intellectual commodities of all sorts.
This essay examines how a PI can solve intellectual property concerns.
Types of Intellectual Property Investigation
There is a wide range of possible infringements on intellectual properties. The most common types of cases handled by intellectual property specialists include: trademark infringement, patent infringement and copyright infringement. Competitive intelligence companies often walk a fine line between accepted forms of product and service design and intellectual property violation.
A great number of cases are filed by companies to protect their products, services, images or reputations from being stolen by eager competitors. Proving property infringement can be difficult, but once established, the results for the violator can be catastrophic.
Intellectual Property Investigation Explained
Intellectual property owners are granted exclusive rights for the use, distribution, publication and manufacture of any item or service directly relating to their protected concept, idea or composition. When these rights are violated, the owner of the intellectual property can begin an investigation to determine if and how infringement occurred, by whom and to what effect.
Violating intellectual property laws can result in criminal penalties and civil lawsuits, if the burden of proof is well met. Intellectual property is a complicated concept to defend and prosecute, so it is always advisable to hire a specialist in the field to look into safeguarding intangible property from infringement or prosecuting known instances of intangible property theft.
Intellectual Property Investigation Assistance
Intellectual property cases have become more common in recent years. The internet has certainly made copying and distributing formerly protected properties both easy and profitable. Music, art, ideas and actual products and services have been illegally duplicated and propagated all over the World Wide Web. These cases are particularly difficult to solve and prosecute, since the servers that are hosting the infringing sites may be located in areas of the world which do not cooperate with intellectual property theft investigations.
To learn more about how to secure your own intellectual property, or file a lawsuit against a violator of your property rights, contact a qualified professional investigator near you.