How to Protect Your Intellectual Property

Have you ever created something or worked really hard for an idea you came up with, only to have your idea stolen by a friend or coworker? That’s called Intellectual Property theft. Intellectual property theft refers to the robbing of people or companies of their ideas, inventions, and creative expressions. IP Theft accounts for anywhere from $180 billion to $540 billion per year, according to the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property.

What does this have to do with real estate? In 2018, I came up with an idea when I was volunteering in my children’s schools. The principal of my twins’ elementary school was a huge advocate for teachers to become homeowners, and we would talk about how hard it was for him to recruit new teachers to come live & work in affluent Loudoun County. I saw a need for teachers to have an advocate when it came to buying and selling real estate & wanted to build in a financial incentive for teachers to buy in Loudoun County-giving them cash back! Ultimately, I wanted to see the county create a relocation package for teachers that would be included in their employee benefits, hence the name Teachers Home Benefits. 

At the inception of Teachers Home Benefits,  I took an agent under my wing to help me get the program off the ground. For a year we worked together on this project, and one day it was brought to my attention by a colleague that I was not on the LLC of my own project. Instead, the person who I thought was helping me was actually helping herself to my Intellectual Property.

I felt so bitterly betrayed that I cut ties with this person immediately, but the IP thief is still out there promoting my company as hers to this day. 

If you are ever the victim of Intellectual Property Theft, here are some actions you can take;

Act quickly and report the theft

Make sure your ideas are properly registered

Send a cease & desist letter

Your attorney may recommend sending a “takedown letter” under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

Take it to court

I am never going to stop being creative or innovating but I am going to be careful and protect my Intellectual Property at every turn! Take my story as a warning and protect yourself from IP theft.