Intellectual property (IP) is the most critical asset a company or a freelance designer has. It may come in various forms, but we concentrate our efforts around computer-aided design (CAD) files.
The files store all information about an architectural or design project your firm works on and losing them would likely mean going bankrupt. Technological advance has replaced old-fashioned blueprints and allowed designers to do their jobs faster.
CAD files make it easier to design projects, but at the same time, they are more vulnerable to data loss since they are digital. You can’t lock them up in a safe as with regular blueprints, and patenting them may get tricky too.
The licensing process is complicated in many countries and requires a team of trained lawyers and an immense amount of cash to prove your ownership over CAD files. But new technologies, such as blockchain, give us new opportunities in data security.
Remember that prevention is the key to securing your CAD files, so let’s see how your data may leak in a few cases.
Common causes for data loss
Generally, people are afraid of malicious actors lurking within the internet’s dark corners, but it is not always the case. There are many ways how your CAD files may get stolen or leaked.
Corporate espionage is still out there, with competitors responsible for 53% of trade secret misappropriation. CAD files are no doubt a trade secret since it’s your innovative design to give you an advantage on the market.
Social relations that are present in business are way trickier. For example, files may get compromised by an employee of yours headhunted by another firm. The soon-to-be-former worker may wish to get a better position by presenting your files to the new bosses. Or sometimes you don’t have enough people to shut all gates, and former employees may suddenly find out that they still have access to the corporate network. It’s understandable for competitors on the market to try undermining your positions, but there are laws regulating this kind of behavior.
A study on global data leaks by Infowatch shows that current or former employees were responsible for 53,5% of all data leak cases. The problem comes from all the stages of the corporate ladder: both regular designers and high-tier executives are behind data leaks.
In November 2021, former Pfizer’s associate director of statistics Chun Xiao Li, allegedly leaked 12,000 files worth of critical information and trade secrets.
This situation happened to one of the largest pharmaceutical corporations in the world, which takes its’ security very seriously. Indeed, something like this is less likely to happen to a smaller business enterprise, but there are a few more things to consider.
Worrying changes
Firstly, the number of people working from home has significantly increased during the pandemic. It means that people at home are unlikely to have sophisticated security measures, not to mention that an employer never knows who has access to their computers and files. Since people tend to feel more comfortable and relaxed at home, they are less inclined to care about the security of sensitive data such as CADs.
Secondly, the pandemic has also led to an increase in employee turnover. People come and go, some of them combine two or more jobs, and there are chances that they may send your file to their other employer.
All things mentioned seem to be like a lot to control. And if your files are lost, there is no turning back. But what if, instead of managing people, you controlled your CADs? How? By securing your files with blockchain technology.
Blockchain data as proof of ownership in court
According to the law, the creator is the owner of its work, unless another is written by legal agreements, but until someone else claims a prior right on it. In case of dispute, it is crucial to provide proof of ownership, i.e. which version of the work came first.
Blockchain technology can bring an efficient solution to creators to protect their IP rights: it allows designers to timestamp and track their creations. The timestamps show the exact creation time and serve as proof of possession. Registration and timestamping of the subsequent design versions provide solid proof of creatorship and ownership.
Another unique feature of blockchain, immutability (the ability for a blockchain ledger to remain a permanent, indelible, and unalterable history of transactions) ensures lifetime storage of the registered data about the creator, the date of creation and the unique meta data related to designs. Blockchain technology has become recognized as evidence by courts in Europe and China.
Geometric twins as a new solution
Our solution is called BORIS, an Autodesk Inventor plugin. It works inside the software and provides designers with easy ownership protection in a familiar working environment. The plugin analyzes the geometry of a CAD model and creates a geometric twin of CAD files. Then, it uses cryptography to hash it and link the data to the IP owner on our blockchain protocol.
All further operations are carried out with the geometric twin of your file, signed by your digital fingerprint. This is extremely important because BORIS ensures “first in time” registration for your intellectual asset, which automatically ensures “first in right” to IP. CADChain does not store your CAD files, only the registered data. The file itself is kept securely in the storage of your choosing.
The solution is reinforced by Ricardian smart contracts, self-executing agreements that are both man and machine-readable. They take care of licensing and contracting (signing of NDAs and other agreements) in an automated fashion. So if it comes to a dispute, you will be able to prove your ownership over CAD files and easily protect your IP rights.
BORIS uses the CADTrack feature that allows you to manage your registered CAD files and track every entry or change made to your files when shared via our plugin. It solves the problem of leakages made by employees since it makes clear to everybody that the file is watched on every stage.
