It is often times an afterthought...but it really should be a huge part of your evaluation when you assess whether or not to outsource your next software development project.
I am talking about Intellectual Property Theft...and what you can do about it.
Anyone who has been in the outsourcing business as a vendor has seen it before.
A potential client has huge reservations because he had tried outsourcing before. He had some very bad experiences. The software application written on the client's behalf was reused or resold or simply not delivered. The potential client had simply been cheated.
Outsourcing Software development typically means dealing with a company located in countries like India, China, Malaysia, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Brazil, Bulgaria or Egypt,...just to name the most popular ones.
The question to ask is what safeguards can be put in place to make sure that no Intellectual Property Theft occurs.
The simple answer is that there is very little which can be done. A vendor who resides on the other side of the planet in a country where intellectual property protection rights are either non existing, weak or simply not being enforced can steal from a client with relative impunity.
Of course..most vendors are reliable and can be trusted. yet...the question remains...what can a decision maker do to safeguard the Intellectual Property he is about to hand over or have developed ?
One good place to start is the United States TR Special 301 list. This list is annually compiled by the US congress and list all the countries which are known for Intellectual Property Theft. Inclusion on the list is because of weak domestic laws to safeguard such Intellectual Property and/or the failure of the judicial and executive branch to enforce such laws.
In short...the list shows all the countries known to be as potential cheaters, In those countries the theft of Intellectual Property is frequent and there is little or no recourse available to the company.
What is perhaps most noteworthy about the list is what is not included. The only country among the traditional outsourcing countries which is not included are the Philippines.
The Philippines earned its exclusion from the list by having Intellectual Property laws modeled after US laws and a legal system which is independent enough that legal claims are fairly adjudicated.
Another key advantage the Philippines offer are that the general mindset of the population is as such that they are law abiding. Crime rates are low and there is a general respect for the other person's property.
I am obviously generalizing here...not every vendor located in China, India or Russia is bad..and not every vendor located in the Philippines should be trusted without exercising due diligence.
It is also worth while to note that bigger corporations who have the legal muscle to institute claims all over the world are less likely to get cheated than a smaller company (relatively speaking) which lacks the will and / or the money to go the litigation route.