ISO 27001 Intellectual Property Rights Policy Explained + Template

The ISO 27001 Intellectual Property Rights Policy sets out how you manage intellectual property rights to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data.

What is it

An ISO 27001 Intellectual Property (IP) Rights Policy is a rulebook that tells everyone in your company how to handle and protect your valuable ideas. It’s part of a bigger system called ISO 27001, which is all about keeping your information secure. This policy makes sure your secret sauce—things like code, designs, and business plans—stays safe and sound.

Applicability to small business, tech startups and AI companies

This policy is a lifesaver for all kinds of businesses, no matter their size.

• Small Businesses: You’ve worked hard to create something unique. This policy helps you protect your brand, customer lists, and innovative products from being copied or stolen.
• Tech Startups: Your whole business is built on intellectual property! This policy is crucial for protecting your code, software, and unique algorithms. It shows investors and clients that you take security seriously.
• AI Companies: Your AI models, training data, and algorithms are your most valuable assets. This policy ensures that this data and the resulting technology are protected from unauthorised use and leaks.

Why you need it

You need this policy to:

• Protect your assets: It keeps your unique ideas, inventions, and confidential information safe from competitors or former employees.
• Boost client trust: When clients see you have this policy, they know you’re serious about protecting their data and your own. This can give you a competitive edge.
• Meet legal requirements: In some cases, having a policy like this is a legal or contractual requirement. It helps you stay compliant and avoid potential lawsuits.

When you need it

You should create this policy as soon as your company starts creating anything of value, like new software, designs, or marketing plans. The sooner you have it in place, the better protected you’ll be. It’s always easier to prevent a problem than to fix one later.

Who needs it

Everyone in your company who handles your valuable information needs to know about this policy. This includes:

• Employees: They need to know what they can and can’t do with company data.
• Contractors: Anyone you hire temporarily needs to understand the rules.
• Partners: Business partners must also agree to protect your IP.
• Management: They’re responsible for making sure the policy is followed and enforced.

Where you need it

The policy should be a formal document that you can share easily. You should keep it in a secure, central location, like your company’s internal shared drive or an employee handbook portal. This way, everyone can access it whenever they need to.

How to write it

Writing the policy is all about being clear and direct.

1. Define IP: First, explain what intellectual property means for your company.
2. State the rules: Clearly outline the do’s and don’ts for handling company IP.
3. Explain ownership: Make it clear that the company owns any IP created by employees while they’re working for you.
4. Mention consequences: Let people know what happens if they don’t follow the rules.
5. Review and update: Your policy should be a living document. Review it regularly to make sure it’s still relevant.

How to implement it

Putting the policy into practice is key.

1. Communicate: Announce the new policy to everyone in the company.
2. Train: Provide training so people understand the policy and why it’s important.
3. Require agreement: Have everyone sign an agreement saying they’ve read and understood the policy.
4. Enforce: Make sure you actually follow through on the rules. If someone breaks them, you need to act on it.

Examples of using it for small business

Imagine you run a small online store. Your IP policy would cover things like:

• The unique product descriptions and photos you’ve written.
• Your customer email list.
• The special branding and logo you’ve created.

It would ensure your employees don’t copy your product descriptions to sell on their own sites.

Examples of using it for tech startups

For a tech startup, the policy would focus on:

• Source code: How your developers handle the code for your app.
• Algorithms: Protecting the unique way your software works.
• User data: Making sure customer information is handled securely and not leaked.

It would specify that all code written on company time belongs to the company, not the employee.

Examples of using it for AI companies

An AI company’s policy would be very specific about:

• Training data: How to handle and protect the datasets used to train your AI models.
• Proprietary models: Ensuring your unique AI models and algorithms aren’t stolen.
• Research notes: Protecting the intellectual work of your data scientists.

It would prevent an employee from taking a copy of your trained model with them when they leave.

How the ISO 27001 toolkit can help

The ISO 27001 toolkit is like a shortcut to compliance. It includes pre-written templates and guides that help you quickly create your IP policy and other security documents. Using a toolkit saves you from reinventing the wheel and ensures your policy meets the standards.

Information security standards that need it

ISO 27001 is the big one! It’s the international standard for managing information security. To get certified, you need to show you have a policy like this in place to protect your valuable information, including IP.

List of relevant ISO 27001:2022 controls

The ISO 27001 standard has specific “controls” that relate to this policy. Here is the most important one:

ISO 27001:2022 Annex A 5.32 Intellectual property rights

ISO 27001 Intellectual Property Rights Policy FAQ