Intellectual property

ISO 27001 requires you to understand what your IP is and how you’re protecting it.

In Compleye Online we handle Intellectual property (IP) in two ways: 

1. Define your IP in Compleye Online
2. Draw up an IP Statement for internal and external use 

General Info on IP: 

Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property. However, the most well-known are copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. 

Typical IP for TechCompanies could be your source code, AI models, certain databases or a method of working. In brief, IP is anything you want to keep secret for you customers and competitors and that needs to be protected when your team is using it.  

1. Define your IP in Compleye Online: 

Add (per IP) the following information by making use of the yellow Add New button: 

• Intellectual Property: Name your IP 
• Description: A high-level description of what you consider as your IP 
• Type of Protection for IP: Describe how you protect it 
   

Tip for protection of your IP. 

• If you store your code/model in a supplier tool (e.g. Github) and rely on the backup of that supplier, the protection is poor. Always have a second, secure backup in place and – at least twice a year – run a test to see if you can restore your source code. Assign a control for this – [section Controls]
• Make sure that the access to IP is controlled by a limited amount of people in your organisation.
• Make sure that in contracts (labour, freelancer, NDAs, confidentiality agreements) the confidentiality is covered during and after the contract.
• Make sure that during exit conversations, you repeat the confidentiality agreement to the stakeholder.
• You can upload evidence of your IP (lawyer documents) or add extra fields if needed.

Types of protection for intellectual property rights for the Netherlands 

• Patents : Protect an invention or a technical product or process. Patent Licence
• Copyright: Protects works of literature, scholarship, science and art. These include books, films, paintings, music, games, photographs and software. Copyright Act
• Neighbouring rights : Protect the work of performers, music and film producers, and broadcasting companies.Neighbouring Rights Act
• Trademarks: Protect the names of products or services. Register Trademark
• Design rights: Protect the appearance of two- or three-dimensional products
• Database rights: Protect the producer of the database against retrieval or re-use of a substantial part of the database. Database Legal Protection Act
• Tradename law: Protects the name under which an enterprise does business Tradenames Act
• Plant breeders’ rights: Protect new plant varieties. Plant Breeders Rights
• Semiconductor topography rights: Protect the design of electronic circuits on computer chips. Semiconductor Topography Rights

       2. Intellectual Property Statement 

We’ve added an Intellectual Property Statement in the section Templates for internal and external use. It’s not mandatory. But when scaling your company and maturing your ISMS it can become an efficient document.