American Intellectual Property theft is costing the domestic economy as much as $600 billion per year, as reported by the Associated Press, and it appears lawmakers and watchdogs have taken note.
Understanding the events that have precipitated the current U.S. IP theft climate will help us know what we can expect in 2024.
The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center is the U.S. government's enforcement arm for trade laws against Intellectual Property theft.
As of 2018, the sales of counterfeit and pirated goods totaled between $1.7 trillion and $4.5 trillion annually, per The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Music piracy costs the U.S. economy more than $12 billion annually, the Institute for Policy Innovation notes, and the average cost to defend a patent lawsuit now exceeds $3 million dollars.
Then there are the intangible costs of IP theft.
No country wants to be hit with IP theft, but some are more impacted than others.
This depends on their reliance on intellectual property in the first place.
When it comes to considering qualifying candidates, the U.S. might top the list.
U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea stated that as many as 9 out of 10 U.S. exporters are patent-holding firms.
IP-intensive industries generated 5.6 million jobs, and workers in this field earned nearly 40% more than their non-IP counterparts.
According to President Bush's Economic Report to Congress in 2006, 70% of publicly traded companies' value was in intangible assets.
This past year, the IPR Center had their hands full of U.S. IP abuses.
The IPR Center teamed up with the National Football League this past spring to confiscate nearly $23 million in counterfeited sports swag.
In October, IPRCC teamed up with Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Major League Baseball to prevent the physical or online sale of knock-off World Series products.
Known as the IDEA Act, the American IP Defense and Enforcement Advancement Act is a response to the high costs domestic businesses are now paying in IP theft.
For every one highlight, there are several more in the shadows.
If this year is any indication, next year will be full of anxious attackers waiting to get more out of U.S. intellectual property.
IP theft that occurs through malicious data exfiltration can be stopped by adhering to industry and government regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, SOX, and more.
Whether it be state secrets, trade secrets, or just team swag, the result is detrimental to the U.S. economy, and today's organizations need to be on the lookout.
This Cyber News was published on securityzap.com. Publication date: Wed, 13 Dec 2023 03:43:05 +0000