Intellectual Property Risks in outsourcing

 

• Companies pose the risks of exposing data, confidential information, and mismanagement of technology and other IP assets during outsourcing their project development.

 

The Importance and ethics of intellectual property vary across industries and types of companies.  Software development outsourcing requires a great deal of sharing of knowledge between customers, organizations, and vendors. Therefore, the IP rights of stakeholders are included in one form or another. Thus intellectual property risk management and data protection issues have become increasingly vital for companies utilizing offshore outsourcing. 

Companies nowadays are more frequent in turning to third-party subject matter experts to outsource their most pressing business needs. It also lets them outsource critical processes that allow them to cut infrastructure costs, focus on the core abilities, and obtain new, enhanced technologies. Although these relationships present opportunities for businesses to enhance product and service quality and leverage economies of scale to compete better in their respective markets. They also come with the risks of exposing potential data and classified information and mismanagement of technology and other IP assets. 

Intellectual property protection remains one of the critical factors that direct outsourcing clients’ choices when conducting their businesses offshore. The risks involved with intellectual property ownership are further magnified in an outsourcing contract where the client’s IP is shared with its provider. The elevated risks associated with preserving the IP involve concrete and careful risk assessment plans by the outsourcing client. How can you make sure that your outsourcing providers don’t violate your IP rights? We’ll explain how to effectively transfer and protect your intellectual property to a software outsourcing company.

What are Intellectual Property Risks? 

The IP (Intellectual property) of a company may include data, software, business processes, inventions, trade secrets, employee details, and all the other forms of classified information. Intellectual property risks are the possible threats or vulnerabilities that a company or individual business needs to plan for when protecting their IP. These are some possible risks associated with keeping and transferring intellectual property to an outsourcing partner: 

• The legal costs related to defending an IP infringement case
• A decrease in revenue or share prices if the IP was proved to be invalid
• The damage and settlement costs that came  from the legal findings
• IP violations can cause a big impact on the trust between client and vendor.
• The costs when intellectual property loses its value or is no longer seen as an asset due to challenges, inconsistency, non-infringement to its ownership 
  
  

How to manage Intellectual Property Risks? 

Patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or confidentiality agreements, your company’s intellectual property is just as, if not more valuable than your physical assets. When outsourcing software development, you may need excellent knowledge sharing between the software client and the vendor. As a result of this activity, it will include the protection of the stakeholder’s IP rights. It has been becoming more vital for businesses to implement robust data protection and IP management when employing offshore outsourcing. These are ways you can ensure the protection of your intellectual property while Outsourcing Software Development. Read More- Intellectual Property Risks in outsourcing