In MIIM we take you out of doubt in this article on whether it is a crime to steal ideas. We are all clear that stealing a work with its intellectual property rights is a crime and also carries serious penalties. But, on the other hand, ideas are more difficult to defend and prove that they are yours. In this post we explain when the theft of ideas is a crime and how you should act if you have a business idea or any other kind of idea.
It is clear that imagination and creativity have no limits and, many times, it can happen that two people have similar ideas. First of all, keep in mind that the ideas themselves have no protection from the law and, to prove that they are yours, what you have to do is to register them.
How can idea theft become a crime?
Idea theft becomes a crime when the appropriation of content protected by intellectual property rights to which you have accessed and have not requested authorization to use comes into play. Here are a couple of cases:
– Copyright: in case the person takes as an example a story and in yours is reflected practically the same. Here you are stealing the content of a copyrighted work, so it is a legal infringement.
– Commercial agreements: two companies enter into a commercial agreement and send confidential information to each other. It turns out that someone manages to steal it and use it without consent. This is a crime.
Example of idea theft
To understand it better we give you an example: an idea theft can become a crime or a violation of intellectual property rights when the person appropriates an idea to create a book where the characters and the story are very similar to another one. Here, the person is infringing the copyright of the writer who has written the book.
To make it clearer, the theft of ideas does not become a crime, but there are certain appropriations of content that can lead to a sanction for not having asked for authorization.
How to protect your ideas from being stolen?
To protect your ideas, keep in mind that it is recommended that you register them before sharing them, and it is also important that you keep all the records and dates in case you need to use them as proof that they are your ideas.
With MIIM you will be able to register your business idea without any problem and this way you will be able to avoid having it stolen. We use Blockchain Technology to protect your ideas in a secure and innovative way. You only have to follow the following steps:
– Identity verification.
– File registration.
– Obtaining the certificate.
– Save your original files.
With MIIM you can register everything: patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets… Do you have any questions? Fill out our form and we will be happy to answer as soon as possible.
