Most in Fort Lauderdale have probably heard the term “intellectual property” before, but may not be familiar with exactly what it is. Simply put, it’s any work or information patented or owned by an organization or individual. While that definition may still seem a little fuzzy, it shouldn’t be difficult to see why companies place so much value into their intellectual property. Not only do companies seek to protect it, but an alleged infringement of it could result in potential legal trouble.
One may not associate intellectual property with baseball, but that’s exactly what’s at the heart of a current FBI investigation being conducted into the St. Louis Cardinals. It was recently reported that members of the organization had accessed the internal databases of another Major League Baseball team, the Houston Astros. Contained in those databases was information regarding trade talks, scouting reports and player statistics.
It’s believed that those from within the Cardinals organization who initiated the breach did so using passwords linked to Jeff Luhnow, the Astros current general manager. Luhnow had worked for St. Louis up until last year. The information exposed could potentially be damaging to him and the Astros as other GMs across the league tend to keep talks involving trades and players private. Luhnow, for his part, has denied using any passwords today similar to those he used with the Cardinals.
Given the sensitivity of corporate information, one must be wary of any personal practices that could expose such data to unauthorized parties. If one has proof that such a theft of intellectual property took place, he or she may be able to seek damages from the party that allegedly stole it. Such action may require the assistance of an attorney with experience in dealing with such matters.
Source: ESPN, “Jeff Luhnow denies using old password after job switch”, June 18, 2015
