Intellectual Property Theft Is Potentially Worse Than Physical Property Theft

One of the most talked about topics at today’s Creativity Conference was intellectual property. Protecting intellectual property is so crucial to the functionality of our economy that it must be high priority.

Speaking on a variety of topics, Vice President Joe Biden spoke passionately about IP protection. He cited that intellectual property based business have a ripple effect on the economy and that violations of IP rights can have detrimental effects. Biden discussed that stealing intellectual property is worse than stealing physical property because of its far reaching effects saying “what they’re stealing is much more valuable than the commodities we ship”.

At a time when counterfeiting and piracy are on the rise, we must ensure that intellectual property rights are protected. Counterfeit and pirated goods are on the rise.  In FY 2013, there were 24,361 IPR seizures, up 7 percent from FY 2012.  If these goods were genuine, their total MSRP value would have been over $1.7 billion, up 38 percent from FY 2012. The rights to our own intellectual property are powerful not only in the way it protects our own ideas but most importantly that it inspires and encourages innovation.