Engineering Entrepreneurship: SolarX IP Risk Analysis and Protection

This report addresses intellectual property (IP) protection for SolarX, a company specializing in rooftop solar PV manufacturing and installation. It identifies various risk scenarios, including data leaks and malware infiltration, and the internal bodies involved. The report analyzes the feasibility of protecting SolarX's R&D advancements and proposes cost-effective solutions such as separating teams and implementing strong access controls. It also examines the risks associated with collaboration with SARSun, like joint ownership and operational impacts, and suggests ways to safeguard SolarX's IP even after the collaboration ends. The findings emphasize the importance of prioritizing and securing critical IP, and the conclusion stresses the need for organizations to identify and address IP risks through tailored protection strategies.

ENGINEERING
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Background......................................................................................................................................1
Tasks................................................................................................................................................1
Risk scenarios and Internal bodies involved in each scenario.....................................................1
Opinion (Is it possible to protect SolarX's current R&D advancements)....................................1
Appropriate cost-effective solution or explanation.....................................................................2
Risks associated with the collaboration of SolarX and SARSun................................................2
Ways in which SolarX’s IP is best protected even after finishing its collaboration with
SARsun........................................................................................................................................2
Results..............................................................................................................................................3
Findings...........................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Risk associated with IP theft and strategies for the same.................................................2

Introduction
IP or intellectual property can be defined as creation of mind or invention within artistic
work, design, symbols and many more. It is extremely important for organizations to focus on
protecting their IP as theft of intellectual property can diminish their value (Fang, Lerner and
Wu, 2017). This assignment will lay emphasis on IP risk, challenges associated with IP risk and
ways in which it can be resolved.
Background
SolarX is a company that manufacture and install rooftop solar PV’s. As advancement in
Solar PV is increasing, needs of consumers is also increasing and because of which SolarX has
focused on expanding their R&D, installations and maintenance departments and for this they
have opened a new branch. They have also decided to collaborate with SARsun in order to speed
up their I&M operations.
Tasks
Risk scenarios and Internal bodies involved in each scenario
There are various scenarios in which SolarX’s new branch may lose their IP in R&D
department, such as:
 R&D department protected information leaked outside or Human error: it is one of the most
basic risk scenarios in which SolarX might lose their IP in R&D. If any important
information is leaked outside or employees working in R&D lose their devices or accidently
send files outside the company network (Chen, Bharadwaj and Goh, 2017). It is one of the
major risks in which company might lose their IP. Internal bodies involved in this risk
scenario are only employees working in R&D department.
 Malware infiltration: If internal systems or software of the company are not protected then
there are chances that outsiders might break into company’s internal R&D system and steal
intellectual protect. Internal bodies involved in this scenarios are: R&D department
employees, system, external hackers.
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Figure 1 Risk associated with IP theft and strategies for the same
Above explained are following risk associated with IP theft. This helps in explaining types
of risk scenarios with IP theft and strategies through which it can be resolved. In the above
diagram strategies to resolve type of risk are explained as well
Steps to identify any risk and resolve it are as follows:
 Identify the type of risk associated with the IP
 Monitor the type of risk and level at which it can affect the organization
 Then analyse internal communication structure so that level at which risk will be managed
can be identified
 Based on the type of risk take required actions in order to resolve the risk.
 Focus on preserving technology, data such that IP can be protected from any kinf of theft or
any other risk.
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Opinion (Is it possible to protect SolarX's current R&D advancements)
It is not completely possible to protect R&D advancement but risk associated with it can be
reduced. SolarX can reduce access to Research and development department i.e. only few of the
employees will be allowed to enter the R&D department and access the information
(Lintukangas, Kähkönen and Ritala, 2016). None of the employee should be able to take
information outside R&D department and if it is required to send any information to higher
authorities then they should be able to send that information through internal server of the
organization where they wont be able to send the information outside the organizational network.
Other than this all the internal system of R&D department should be protected with anti-theft
devices so that information within those systems can be protected. After any new research or
development has been made then it should be protected by registering ownership of the new
product etc. through copyright, trademark.
Appropriate cost-effective solution or explanation
There are various kinds of cost-effective ways through which IP rights can be protected
such as:
 Separating teams is one of the best solutions through which IP rights can be protected i.e.
research, development, installation and maintenance all the teams should be separated and
should not be allowed to interact with each other (Abbott, Cottier and Gurry, 2019). This will
help SolarX to protect and secure their IP rights and information.
 Secure with strong access control i.e. all the employees working in R&D and (&M
department should have access codes and all the information that they take outside the
department should be entered into the system. this will help them to protect their R&D rights
in a proper manner.
Risks associated with the collaboration of SolarX and SARSun
Collaboration with SARSun can increase risk of IP theft for SolarX, such as:
 SolarX will be requiring to make a joint ownership of their intellectual property which can
create problems in future and can make it difficult to protect their IP in a proper and effective
manner. Company might be required to compromise with their privacy and protection policy
due to which chances of IP theft can increase.
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 Day to day operations of SolarX can also get affected which can affect their I&M operations
due to which their overall speed of doing such operations can reduce or SARsun can slowly
overpower their operations.
Ways in which SolarX’s IP is best protected even after finishing its collaboration with SARsun
 SolarX should prioritize their intellectual property and focus on securing their intellectual
property both physically and digitally and should focus on identifying all the intellectual
properties that are required to be shared with SARsun and that are not required to be shared
(Dratler Jr and McJohn, 2019).
 Access to important and protected IP should be reduced and protected so that all the people
who will be accessing those IP will be known by the company. Not only this all the
employees should be educated about intellectual property and legal actions that can be taken
if theft of IP is found.
Results
It has been identified that there are various kin ds of risk associated with IP rights that are
required to be focused on by SolarX company as they can lead to theft of IP. It has been found
that before collaborating with SARsun, SolarX need to prioritize their IP, protect and secure
highly important IP so that even after collaboration protection of IP is not compromised.
Findings
It has been found that there are various solutions or strategies though which SolarX can
protect their data such as they can secure IP by protecting it with access control so that who will
be access which intellectual property is recorded. Other than this teams working together should
also be segregated so that security of the data or information is protected. SolarX should also
prioritize their IP and protect highly important IP before making collaboration with SARsun so
that IP rights are not compromised.
Conclusion
From the above assignment it has been summarized that there are various kinds of risk that
are associated with IP. It is important for organizations to identify these risk and work on them.
There are different types of IP and various kinds of challenges are associated with these IP. Each
IP can be protected in a different manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abbott, F.M., Cottier, T. and Gurry, F., 2019. International intellectual property in an integrated
world economy. Aspen Publishers.
Chen, Y., Bharadwaj, A. and Goh, K.Y., 2017. An Empirical Analysis of Intellectual Property
Rights Sharing in Software Development Outsourcing. Mis Quarterly. 41(1).
Dratler Jr, J. and McJohn, S.M., 2019. Intellectual Property Law: Commercial, Creative and
Industrial Property. Law Journal Press.
Fang, L.H., Lerner, J. and Wu, C., 2017. Intellectual property rights protection, ownership, and
innovation: Evidence from China. The Review of Financial Studies. 30(7). pp.2446-2477.
Lintukangas, K., Kähkönen, A. K., and Ritala, P., 2016. Supply risks as drivers of green supply
management adoption. Journal of Cleaner Production. 112. 1901-1909.
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