The business of protecting a company’s intellectual property is a big one. There are several branches of law that exist under the umbrella of intellectual property law. You have trademark attorneys for trademark law, copyright lawyers for copyright law and patent lawyers to help with patent law. If you have a business, you need to find ways to keep it safe from theft and fraud. Here are a few things you can do to achieve this important goal.

1. Obtain trademark protection for your logo and name. Your name is your brand. By far, the single most important thing you can do to protect your brand is to get a trademark attorney to help you get trademark protection for both your company’s name and your logo. Some people think that because they were able to register a domain name, that name is availble. Not everyone who uses a domain name has a trademark for it and you cannot tell if the name you want is available to use as a corporation or as an limited liability corporation or LLC. If you are starting a new company, you need to hire a trademark attorney and claim that name so that no one else can use it without your permission. Experts recommend getting trademarks for all of your names or products so that your competitors or companies in other countries cannot use it. The process for getting a trademark can be complicated so getting a good trademark attorney can save you time and money in the long run.
2. Be safe with your ecommerce efforts. Ecommerce is big business and can be an important part of your company’s success. The problem is that these sites can be vulnerable to attacks and fraud. If you are going to put together an ecommerce site, you need to do with a reputable service for this. When you go with a reputable and reliable ecommerce provider, you will know that they check the security of their services often. They will find and deal with any problems with their security issues as they are found.
3. Make your URL have HTTP rather than just HTTP. When you use “Secure Sockets Layer” (SSL) technology, you are using a more secure website. These links are encrypted and require a more secure link that goes between the browser that is being used and the server for the website. These are incredibly important for ecommerce sites. Using HTTPS rather than HTTP lets your customers know that the connection is totally secure and that any information that they share is going to be kept secret and away from prying eyes of criminals. This is the best way to protect the sensitive personal and financial information that consumers share when they buy something online. This is an important step to prevent fraudulent activity on your website.
4. When people register, make them have decent passwords. We all know people who use words like “password” or “1234” for their personal identification number or their password. It is hard to overstate the importance of using strong passwords for ecommerce sites. People do not like to think about it but everyone is a potential victim of hacking. Individuals and businesses are targeted by unscrupulous people and companies every day. You can protect yourself and your customers by requiring them to register with a strong password on your website. You should also make them change their password at least twice a year.
5. Learn what fraud looks like. There are a few things you can do to make sure you do not have to deal with fraudulent purchases. When someone buys something online, one way to make sure they are using a credit card that they have permission to use is to make the purchaser give the billing zip code. There are other ways you can identify fraudulent purchases such as looking at someone’s history of ordering with your company. Letting people know that you are capturing their IP addresses when they are making a purchase can prevent some fraudulent purchases.

Fraud prevention is an important part of any business. Whether you sell your goods in a store or online, there are things you can do to protect your brand and business.