Insureon Report Reveals 56% of Small IT Businesses Are Vulnerable to Copyright Infringement Lawsuits

The latest Tech Industry Risk Assessment report indicates that most small IT businesses lack formal employee education on copyright use best practices.

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Insureon

Sep 21, 2015, 09:00 ET

CHICAGO, Sept. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Insureon's Tech Industry Risk Assessment (TIRA), released today, reveals that 56 percent of small IT business owners fail to train their employees in how to avoid copyright infringement. Without proper training, employees may inadvertently infringe on a copyright, exposing their employers to lawsuits. IT businesses can face serious financial consequences when employees use copyrighted code or data improperly, as well as when former employees take critical work product with them for use elsewhere.

A lawsuit filed last week by mobile traffic app vendor PhantomALERT demonstrates the extent of the risk, even for larger technology businesses. The suit alleges that PhantomALERT's rival Waze, a Google subsidiary, copied its database and modified it for use on Waze's traffic app.

"If a business like Waze, which has access to the employee training and legal resources you would expect of a Google-owned company, is facing these kinds of accusations, then there's no reason a small business wouldn't," said Insureon CEO Ted Devine. "And the impact on a small business would be much worse. They seldom have the funds to defend against allegations of copyright infringement."

TIRA includes links to resources that can help with copyright training issues. It also offers tips for managing six other key risk areas identified from an analysis of information gathered in the last year from more than 10,000 technology businesses that applied for insurance through Insureon.

To read the full TIRA report and see its risk management recommendations, visit https://it.insureon.com/resources/tira/2015.

About Insureon

The nation's leading online provider of small business insurance, Insureon has written policies for more than 25,000 technology businesses since 1997. It offers insurance policies (including General Liability, Professional Liability, and more) for freelancers, online businesses, and a variety of technology professionals through its online application.

Contact: Betsy Gregg, 224-595-3323, [email protected]

SOURCE Insureon