D.9.2 - Intellectual property protection

Intellectual property protection involves law enforcement activities involving the enforcement of intellectual property including inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

Note that intellectual property protection is an exception to the often-close relationship between impacts to law enforcement information and information systems and the security of critical infrastructures and key national assets. The following security categorization is recommended for the intellectual property protection information type:

Security category

D.9.2 - Intellectual property protection = {(confidentiality, Low), (integrity, Low), (availability, Low)}

Confidentiality Low

The confidentiality impact level is the effect of unauthorized disclosure of intellectual property protection information on the abilities of responsible agencies to enforce intellectual property including inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. The consequences of unauthorized disclosure of the majority of intellectual property protection information will result in, at most, a limited adverse effect on agency operations, agency assets, or individuals. Special Factors Affecting Confidentiality Impact Determination: There are legislative mandates prohibiting unauthorized disclosure of trade secrets. Trade secrets will generally be assigned a moderate confidentiality impact level. In the case of patent activities, technical details of applications involving inventions with military applications and with deliberations concerning withholding patents as a result of national security considerations may be sensitive. (In some cases, the patent application information may be classified or to contain information concerning weapons or weapons systems. In such cases, the information would be national security information, and outside the scope of this guideline.) Recommended Confidentiality Impact Level: The provisional confidentiality impact level recommended for intellectual property protection information is low.

Integrity Low

The integrity impact level is based on the specific mission and the data supporting that mission, not on the time required to detect the modification or destruction of information. The consequences of unauthorized modification or destruction of intellectual property protection information depends on the criticality of the information with respect to agency mission capability, protection of agency assets, and safety of individuals. The effects of modification or deletion of this information are generally limited with respect to agency mission capabilities or assets. Recommended Integrity Impact Level: The provisional integrity impact level recommended for intellectual property protection information is low.

Availability Low

The availability impact level is based on the specific mission and the data supporting that mission, not on the time required to re-establish access to intellectual property protection information. The nature of intellectual property protection processes is tolerant of reasonable delays. Recommended Availability Impact Level: The provisional availability impact level recommended for intellectual property protection information is low.