When creating intellectual property, one of the challenges you might face is that a third party might attempt to steal your intellectual property. Then, you will need to find an ethical and effective way to fight the stealing of your property to avoid financial damages. There are effective ways to go about this.

An intellectual property is a work you created that has laws to protect it. You can give away the rights to your work contractually and it will then become the job of the individual who purchased your work to defend the IP. 

1. Sharing Your Work

The best way to protect your intellectual property is to simply never allow anyone to see it. However, at some point, you will likely want to share your work or sell it for a profit while still retaining the rights. For instance, you may wish to compose music and sell your songs to end-users.

2. Finding Your Stolen Work

When producing artistic work, you will already have a copyright. Therefore, once someone uses your copyright, they will have engaged in copyright theft. Think about the places where it's likely that your works might be uploaded. Try to think like an end-user and think about where you would go to find your work. For example, if you compose music, what are common websites where other users could upload your work? 

3. Considering Fair Use

Make sure that the work is not fair use. For example, if part of your content was uploaded for commentary, you may not be able to have it taken down. Commentary on your lyrics cannot be taken down, for example.

4. Recording the Infringement

Record the URL where you have located the infringing work. Take a screen capture and document the time and date in which you discovered the infringing work. If the infringing work is sold offline, try to obtain a copy. Use Whois to find out who is the owner of the website that has the infringing content. You will be provided with an address, phone number, and email address. 

5. Taking Action Against the IP Infringement

If you are concerned with protecting your intellectual property, you will want to speak with an attorney specialized in this area of law. Intellectual property protection attorneys can search for examples of copyright infringement and will file take down notices and may pursue civil litigation if you choose to go this route.