Actions to take - your next step
Your decisions on what to do next will help to protect your business, and individual staff, from liability for Intellectual Property (IP) rights infringement, and from the threats posed by computer viruses and malware.
Consider the following:
- Assess which of the problem areas identified in this guide might apply to your working environment and put in place systems to manage those risks
- Undertake an IP audit to understand what IP rights your business uses, and who they are owned by.
- Complete the Intellectual Property Office's (IPO) free online IP Healthcheck questionnaire to help you see how IP relates to your business, and act as appropriate on that information to protect your business assets through the various types of IP rights
- Ensure you have the necessary licences in place for using the IP rights of others and that you monitor and manage those licences properly
- Review, update or create new staff policies relating to IP compliance
- Establish clear procedures and processes to tackling IP infringement within your business, including mechanisms for reporting instances of IP crime to law enforcement agencies
- Deliver training to your managers to make sure they understand what IP is, the risks from infringement and what your business policy is
- Communicate clearly with staff so that they know the rules in place within your organisation and the implications of failing to adhere to them
- Report any instances of criminal infringement
(IP crime) to trading standards
or police either directly or
anonymously via the charity Crimestoppers
Reporting criminal infringement (IP crime)
If you
have concerns, or are aware of any person that may be involved in criminal
IP rights infringement, then you may report this through your local trading
standards via Consumer Direct, the police or anonymously via
the charity Crimestoppers . Those who are responsible for the production and distribution of counterfeit and pirated products and
content on a commercial scale may also be involved with other types of serious organised crime as
well, such as benefit fraud, drugs and people trafficking. Therefore, it is imperative that you
report any suspicion of IP crime to law enforcement.