Intellectual property rights are the legal rights that cover the privileges given to individuals who are the owners & inventors of a work, & have created something with their intellectual creativity. Online content always needs to be protected so we can’t separate Intellectual Property & Cyber Crimes. In cyberspace, sometimes one person makes a profit by using another person’s creative work without his or her consent. This a violation of privacy, & it is protected by IPR. In today’s world besides cyberbullying, & fraud, cybercrimes also includes infringement of copyrights & trademarks of various businesses & other organizations.

Keywords : Intellectual Property, Cyber Crime, Cyber Squatting, Hacking, Phishing, Vishing

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property means the ownership of property except real estate or personal property, as these are the outputs of human mind or spirit. Intellectual property rights are the legal rights of intellectual activity in the field of industry, science, literature & arts. These rights have a limitation by time.

The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) laws in India are divided inti five main categories: trademarks, copyrights, patents, industrial designs & geographical indications.

India provides protection for intellectual property rights as per with its obligations under the TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement of WTO.

Other than the civil solutions & damages, the police & other such authorities have the rights to take action against breaking the terms of law in case of intellectual property. The petitions for violations of IPR will be filed & tried in courts just like any other suits. Appeals are filed in the courts against management & administrative decisions relating to IPR.

Intellectual Property Law in India broadly covers the following areas:

Patents, Plant Variety Protection, Geographic Information, Traditional Knowledge, Copyright, Trade Marks, Trade Secrets & Industrial Designs.

Intellectual property rights have become the highlighted subject because of India’s entry in the WTO & signing the “TRIPS” agreement. Long before this agreement was signed in 1995, there were several treaties dealing with IPRs, such as copyrights, trademarks, patents, & other rights. The most well-known of them are:

• The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of March 20, 1883

• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary & Artistic Works of September 9,1886

• International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms & Broadcasting Organizations done at Rome on October 26, 1961.

• Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks of April 14, 1891,

These all treaties have been periodically revised. But it was found that these treaties lacked an effective enforcement system by which parties to any of these treaties could ensure compliance with the terms of the treaties by other parties. Also the change in the pattern & pace of international trade highlighted the need for greater cohesion in the matter of mutual obligations & more precision in the description of the scope of the rights. TRIPS provided to its members an opportunity to redefine the content & scope of the rights.

TRIPS required first its signatory members, including India, updated their domestic legislation regarding the protection of those rights to the standards stipulated by TRIPS, which was the minimum standard of protection. That updating is a continuous process & while India has brought about several legislative changes into conformity with the requirements of TRIPS, some work still remains to be done.

Proponents of unrestricted file sharing point out how file sharing has given people broader & quicker access to media, has increased exposure to new & upcoming artists, & has considerably reduced the costs of transferring media (including less environmental damage). Supporters of restrictions on file sharing argue that we must protect the income of our artists & other people who work to create our media.

There is also a similar debate over intellectual property rights in case of software ownership. The two exactly opposite views are for closed source software distributed under restrictive licenses or for free & open – source software. The argument can be made that restrictions are required because companies would not invest weeks & months in development if there is no incentive for revenue generated from sales & licensing fees. A counter argument to this is that standing on shoulders of giants is far cheaper than when the giants don’t hold IP rights. Some advocated for open source are of belief that all programs should be available to anyone who wants to study them.

One reason for IP laws is to allow IP creators to benefit from their work/profession. If artists create sketch after months of hard work & labor, then they deserve credit & income from selling or exhibiting them. If a business comes up with an attractive marketing logo, then no other businesses should be allowed to use that logo for product promotion purposes without permission.

People also view protecting IP as a method of promoting creativity. If no one is allowed to copy another person’s work without permission, then we are encouraging creativity for everybody.

Cyber Crimes

Cybercrimes are unlawful acts where the computer is used either as a tool or a target or both. It is any illegal behavior directed by means of electronic operations that targets the security of computer systems & the data processed by them, or any illegal behavior committed by means of, or in relation to, a computer system or network, including such crimes as illegal possession & offering or distributing information by means of a computer system or network.

In recent surveys, it has been found that people are very cautious when it comes to documents that contain personal information on them by completely destroying them or assuring that they are safely stored.

The various types of cybercrimes can be classified as :

Cyber Stalking: It is a crime in which the attacker harasses a victim using electronic communication, such as e-mail or instant messaging, or messages posted to a website or a discussion group. A cyber stalker relies upon the anonymity afforded by the internet to allow them to stalk their victim without being detected.

Cyber stalking can be terribly frightening. It can destroy careers, credit, self-esteem, self-image, & friendships. It can even lead the victim into far greater physical danger when combined with real-world stalking. Victims of domestic violence are most of the time cyber stalking victims. One needs to be aware that technology can make cyber stalking easy. Spyware software can be used to monitor each & everything happening on your computer or mobile, giving tremendous amount of power & information to cyber stalkers.

Hacking: It means gaining an unauthorized access to data in a computer. It describes the fast development of new programs or the reverse engineering of already existing software to make the code better & more efficient. It also refers to expand the capabilities of any electronic device; to use them beyond the original intentions of the manufacturer.

Various terms like cracker, hacker & ethical hacker are used. Hacker are persons who enjoy learning the details of computer systems & expand their capabilities whereas, cracker is a person who uses his hacking skills for offensive purposes. Ethical hackers are usually security professionals who apply their hacking skills for defensive purposes.

Phishing: Phishing is a technique of fraudulently obtaining private information. In this the phisher sends an e-mail that appears to come from a legitimate business – a bank or credit card company requesting verification of information & warning of some dire consequence if it is not provided. The e-mail usually contains a link to a fraudulent web page that seems legitimate with company logos & content & has a form requesting everything from a home address to an ATM card’s PIN. Phishing involves false emails, chats, or websites designed to impersonate real systems with the goal of capturing sensitive data.

Vishing: It is also known as Phone Phishing. It uses an interactive voice response (IVR) system to recreate a legitimate sounding copy of a bank or other institution’s system. The victim is prompted (via a phishing e-mail) to call in to the bank via a number provided in order to verify information. A typical system will reject log-ins continually, ensuring the victim enters PINs or passwords multiple times, often disclosing several different passwords. More advanced systems transfer the victim to the attacker posing as a customer service agent for further questioning.

Baiting: It is like real-world Trojan Horse that uses physical media & relies on the curiosity or greed of the victim. It involves dangling something you want to entice you to take an action the criminal desires. It can be in the form of a music or movie download on a peer-to-peer site. Then, once the device is used or downloaded, the person or company’s computer gets infected with malicious software allowing the criminal to advance into your system.

Social Engineering: It is the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain secure data by conning an individual into revealing secure information. It is successful because its victims innately want to trust other people & are naturally helpful. The victims of social engineering are trickled into releasing information that they do not realize, will be used to attack a computer network. Criminals use social engineering tactics because it is usually easier to exploit natural inclination to trust than it is to discover ways to hack your software. As the saying goes, it is much easier to fool someone into giving you their password than it is for you to try hacking their password.

Reverse Social Engineering: It is a person-to-person attack in which an attacker convinces the target that he or she has a problem or might have a certain problem in the future & that he, the attacker, is ready to help you to solve the problem. Next, he gains the trust of the target & obtains access to sensitive information.

Cross-site scripting: It is a code injection security attack targeting web applications that delivers malicious, client-side scripts to a user’s web browser for execution. XSS attacks enable attackers to inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users. A cross-site scripting vulnerability can be used by attackers to bypass access controls like same-origin policy.

Bot Nets: It is a group of computers controlled without their owner’s knowledge & used to send spam or make denial of service attacks. Malware is used to hijack the individual computers, also known as “zombies” & send directions through them. They are best known in terms of large spam networks, frequently based in the former Soviet Union.

A zombie or bot is often created through an Internet port that has been left open & through which a small Trojan horse program can be left for future activation. At a certain time, the zombie army “controller” can unleash the effects of the army by sending a single command, from an Internet Relay Channel (IRC) site. The computers that form a botnet can be programmed to redirect transmissions to a specific computer, such as a website that can be closed down by having to handle too much traffic – a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack or, in the case of spam distribution, to many computers.

Cybersquatting: It means unauthorized registration & use of internet domain names that are similar to any business’s trademarks, service marks or company names.

Attack Vector: It is a path or means by which a hacker can gain access to a computer network server in order to deliver a payload or malicious outcome. It includes viruses, e-mail attachments, web pages, pop-up windows, instant messages, chat rooms, & deception.

Identity Theft: It is the deliberate use of someone else’s identity, to gain a financial advantage or obtain credit & other benefits in the other person’s name, & to the other person’s disadvantage or loss.

Integration of Intellectual Property in Cyber Universe

Intellectual property & cyber security are interlinked because of their common goal to protect the interests of the global community. The safety of one guide the security of the other. But, protecting just one is still not enough as there are specialized threats exclusively targeting intellectual properties. Besides the cost related to the mitigation of cyberattacks, a large portion of losses come from compromised intellectual assets. Because of this, understanding the importance of protecting both cyber security & intellectual property is a necessary step to avoid potential damages.

Malicious programs like computer viruses or cyber threats, pose serious threats to the integrity of the data contained within digital platforms. In this digital age, intellectual property like patent details, technological prototypes, & trade secrets are mostly stored in the digital network. Exposing these files to competitors creates a considerable risk of losing competitive advantage.

Despite improvements in combating cybercrime & threats, IT security professionals are still struggling to fully secure their organization & protect against breaches with 61 percent claiming to have experienced one to six data breaches & three-fourth of breaches require disclosure, putting reputation at risk.

Data breaches are becoming more serious as cybercriminals continue to target intellectual property putting the reputation of company brand or individuals at risk & increasing financial liability.

Conclusion

With the technological advancement & vast amount of growth in cyber world, copyright & trademarks are not limited to the traditional intellectual property but have spread to intellectual property rights over the internet. Cyberspace is becoming a place for intellectual property rights violation. That’s why it has become important that people should be aware of the illegal usage of their websites & webpages.

Hi, This is Dr. Aniket Saxena from Bareilly (India). I am an IIM – B, IMF (US), NISM & EQUALIFI Certified Financial Analyst, AML Pro, & Business Management Expert with PDM, MTech Laws, M. Int’l Laws, GMBA, EMBA (IT), EMBA (BI), & MCA, having around 14 years of experience in successfully implementing investment & financial strategies to achieve individual & business success.

The rise of eCommerce is staggering. There are 12-24 million websites selling products and services online With more added every day. This is a constantly evolving area that is constantly evolving, with emerging fashions continuously bringing customers with their online purchasing experience. Like brick and mortar stores the process of launching an eCommerce store requires a lot of careful planning and preparation in the pre-launch, launch and post-launch phases. The online store owner must take into consideration a range of elements and address a variety of questions prior to starting to go live with eCommerce.

Consider these factors Before Starting an eCommerce Store

Here are a few things you need to think about before you venture into the world of eCommerce. Be aware that in addition to these elements, you’ll also require a good brand name so that people will recall your name. Furthermore, the eCommerce software that you create must appear and feel premium to be able to stand out from the competition.

Deciding on Products & Services
There is a tendency to see businesses that are new to eCommerce start by resembling the success of other eCommerce models and services. This isn’t a good idea, as you’re unlikely to be able to conduct the same studies they do on their targeted populations and geographical areas. It’s crucial to start by finding a niche. For instance, Amazon is the most sought-after eCommerce brand that began selling books before expanding into other goods.

Start with a few and type in the types of items and services which you think you are able to provide your customers with the best. This will enable you to comprehend the working processes and conduct an initial test of your market. It is essential to make your product distinct since you’re not likely to have the resources to offer discounts or other promotions similar to chains.

Researching Audiences & Competitors
After you’ve decided on the product you want to market it is important to determine the exact audience the product is being sold to. Recognizing the target market requires studying their buying, browsing as well as other behavior. It is important to determine the demographics you’re targeting, the kind of gadgets are they using for browsing, their purchasing preferences, where they live, what their geopolitics and cultural preferences are, and so on. Only when you’ve identified these factors you can set your business as well as marketing strategies.

The surveys of competitors are crucial to understanding the reality of the marketplace. You need to determine whether competitors provide similar or similar services similar to yours and then decide on strategies. Your business plan, financial planning, production and selling strategies will all be contingent on the competition that you encounter.

Inventory Management & Stock Tracking
If the items that you’re offering are digital and then you’re completely free of these concerns. In the event that you are not, you need to begin thinking about warehouse costs as well as inventory management and storage and tracking the inventory you have. The most popular eCommerce platforms provide built-in tools to help you manage your inventory management effectively. Third-party software applications are also available however, they require you to incorporate them into your app. It is also crucial to display your stock on the product page in real-time. This will help shoppers avoid the stress of not knowing if the product they’re looking for is in stock or not prior to the purchase process.

Shipping Management
eCommerce businesses typically tie up with a variety of shipping services which aid in bringing their products to their clients both locally and internationally. Naturally, the form of shipping service you use will depend on the specific target market you’ve selected. It is crucial to incorporate shipping calculators in your application in order to determine the total invoice amount. This informs customers of exactly what they will have to pay to allow an item to be delivered to their doorstep.

Third-party shipping services usually provide an API you must integrate, and will be a calculator for shipping. If you own your own shipping system, you’ll need to ask the developers to integrate their rates with the app. If this is the case it’s also wise to look into distributed warehouses as your business expands. This will help you and your customer’s shipping costs.

Managing Returns
The main drawback to eCommerce purchasing is the fact that buyers aren’t able to physically touch the product prior to buying it. This means that there’s no way to know if the product is unsuitable or defective before it is delivered. That’s why well-known eCommerce companies always provide options of refunds, returns and replacements, but with some flexibility and security.

Be sure to have the right procedures figured out to handle the request for a refund or replacement. It is essential to have defective items taken care of and then the money returned within a short time in order to keep confidence among your customers.

Figuring out Monetization
The next step is to choose an appropriate price for items and services. It will be based on the amount you invest, your regular expenses, employee costs in the development of your application, maintenance costs, as well as the minimum profits you will need to expand your business. It is important to take your time and conduct a study of the market before you decide on the price you will charge. If you constantly alter the price of your products or keep the same price as your competitors, you’ll not seem like a credible company. You must develop your own pricing policy which will allow you to make a mark.

Choosing the Right Development Team
After you’ve got the basic concepts and the eCommerce methods figured out you’ll require plenty of time to develop an application where customers can shop. There’s an abundance of high-quality eCommerce design services all over the world which can make the process easier for you. Select a firm with the necessary expertise in the development of eCommerce applications Make sure to take note of what their clients have to say about them.

Website or App
It is up to you to decide if would like to develop a web application, mobile application or both. This will impact the remainder of the development as well as other costs that you’ll have to pay. Based on current browsing habits and the accessibility of mobile phones applications for mobile devices are possibly the most effective way for people to buy with your store. If you have a limited budget web-based sites are an alternative

Development & Technologies
After that, you need to select the eCommerce platform that you want your app to be based upon. If you’ve decided to go with mobile apps then you must decide whether you’d like it to be either native or hybrid. Each has its own advantages and the development team can help you with which choice to make.

If you have a website, Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento and WordPress are excellent choices. Speak with your preferred web development company and learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each of the options available to you. Know about the costs for development and additional maintenance costs associated with these platforms, as well as the types of security and additional options they provide. This will help you determine whether you should spend money on additional plugins and extensions to help with shipping, tracking orders taxes, searching or anything else.

When you’ve decided on the best platform, you’ll need to select a suitable hosting service. The type the hosting service you select will depend on the number of services you’ve got and the volume of traffic you’re expecting. In addition to development costs, there will be recurring expenses such as hosting charges, subscription-model plugins, maintenance and much more. Be sure to be aware of the type of expenses you’ll have to pay prior to choosing the technology you will invest in.

Marketing
If you’ve built a solid eStore and you have it filled with great items, you must promote it to your targeted market. It’s only when you broaden your audience and build brand visibility that your website will get more traffic and consequently more conversions. This means you need to think about not only development but marketing too and set an appropriate budget. It’s best to work with an expert digital marketing agency to handle this aspect, as successful marketing is a lengthy and complicated process.

Only by having a solid marketing strategy will you be able to stand out from your competition and make yourself noticeable to your customers. Discuss your preferred marketing partners and develop an effective plan. Utilize all channels that are available for advertising within your budget, and utilize social media whenever you can. Create profiles for your business on all channels that are appropriate and regularly market to a targeted group to ensure that they are able to access your website.

Investing in Security
The majority of 32.4 percentage of all successful online hacking attempts are targeted at the eCommerce sector. Hackers typically view small and newly launched eCommerce companies as easy targets due to their inadequate security systems. Online customers are putting their trust in them with their financial and personal information and expect that data to be secured. Attacks on your website do not just destroy your credibility but be a risk to those whose information is stolen.

Be sure to stay in front of these nefarious elements by investing in the right security measures. Continuously updating your administrator passwords and keeping all of your main databases and files updated as well as regularly backing up All of these will go a long way in ensuring your data is secure. Conduct regular vulnerability tests and utilize high-quality security software or other firewall services. Discuss additional measures that you could implement with your development team and request them to implement similar measures. You may also consider employing regularly scheduled support services for your site to ensure that everything is running smooth.

Conclusion

Your customers must be the primary focus of your eCommerce strategies. You can ensure a pleasant shopping experience by ensuring that your inventory, stocking and shipping, as well delivery, are all done smoothly. Naturally, a professional eCommerce development service will improve the performance of your eCommerce company significantly by using the most efficient, user-friendly and accessible application that is well-optimized. But it’s only with an enlightened long-term plan that you can achieve success in the field of eCommerce.