How the Media Industry Is Redefining the Future of IP Protection

In today’s world of media, many entertainment companies have turned into tech companies, and intellectual property (IP) runs the show. The global IP in media and entertainment market was valued at $169.4 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow from $178.5 billion in 2025 to $300 billion by 2035.

IP is an asset that media and entertainment companies must protect, especially as the industry continues to expand digitally. “The success of a streaming platform is reliant on their exclusive content—films, series, music, scripts, et cetera,” says Kaitlynn Espeleta, Media Portfolio Director at Insight Global. “They invest billions of dollars into production and marketing costs. Anything that gets leaked before then is pretty disastrous, and it costs these companies millions and millions of dollars.”

In the face of cutting-edge technology and smarter cybercrime, media companies must develop better legal tactics and stronger cybersecurity measures to stay ahead of threats and remain competitive.

What Is Intellectual Property Protection?

Intellectual property is the legal terminology for creative works like inventions, art, and branding, for which the owner is given exclusive rights to use. Sometimes an individual owns the content, and sometimes a company does.

There are four categories of intellectual property protection, and each one addresses different vulnerabilities of IP.

Copyright protects original creative works like films, music, and scripts and ensures that original works remain under the creator’s control. The duration of copyright is the life of the author plus 70 years.
Patents protect inventions like streaming algorithms, animation software, or video hardware. The duration of a patent is 20 years.
Trademarks protect brand identifiers such as logos and slogans. Trademarks can last indefinitely with renewal.
Trade secrets protect confidential business information like production workflows, proprietary algorithms, and unreleased scripts. They have no expiration as long as secrecy is maintained.

Depending on the creative work, multiple protections can be used for a single asset since each protects different aspects of the IP.

Why IP Protection Matters For Media & Entertainment Companies

For entertainment companies, IP is the foundation of competitive advantage as IP rights safeguard creative integrity and monetization.

Right now, the biggest challenges these companies and studios face are IP leaks through trade secrets and cyberattacks and copyright violations due to generative AI. In fact, total U.S. IP theft in 2024 is estimated between $225-600 billion, with cybercrime losses alone hitting $16.6 billion.

If IP leaks before an anticipated release date that is not part of the planned marketing campaign—whether it’s an original film or television character, music, concept art, or a storyline—it can cost studios millions of dollars in potential revenue. Losing control of IP means not only losing financially but losing licensing opportunities and consumer trust.

IP Protection and Talent

Companies must layer intellectual property protections for holistic security, but talent plays a crucial role alongside legal protection. In addition to cyberattacks, loss of trade secrets most often occurs through insider leaks. This makes talent vetting and secure collaboration critical to maintaining robust IP security—technology can’t secure IP without the right people behind it.

Insider threats remain a top vulnerability. In addition, workforce transitions pose the risk of losing tribal knowledge related to IP assets. To combat this, entertainment leaders should implement safeguards to protect vulnerable IP and insider knowledge from the start of the hiring process.

IP Protection and Generative AI

Financial losses can also appear in the form of lawsuits. In June 2025, three major players in media—Disney, NBC Universal, and DreamWorks—filed a major copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, an AI image-generation company, for IP infringement of copyrighted characters. And while they aren’t the only companies embroiled in AI-related lawsuits, the ruling of this lawsuit will greatly affect the use of generative AI in the media and entertainment space moving forward.

Entertainment companies must anticipate IP battles on multiple fronts due to the sudden escalation of AI usage and platform capabilities. Many claim that AI is stealing from copyrighted and original work, calling into question what needs to be protected by IP law. Without clear AI-use policies or contract clauses defining ownership and liability, organizations risk losing control of their most valuable assets.

The Importance of Robust Cybersecurity

On top of safeguarding trade secrets and mitigating AI risks, the biggest threat to IP is cybercrime. From digital piracy and phishing to deepfakes and bad actors, cybercrime is increasing and becoming more sophisticated every year. CrowdStrike reports that 79% of cyberattack detections in 2024 were malware-free, meaning cybercriminals are using hands-on rather than automated techniques to prevent detection.

“Digital piracy costs the TV and film industry around $30 billion annually and can derail release strategies, impact box office revenue, ultimately lowering ROI,” says Espeleta. “Streaming platforms also collect sensitive subscriber data like payment information and viewer habits. A security breach can lose consumer trust, resulting in churn and loss of revenue, along with risking lawsuits and financial penalties. Protection of that data is imperative.”

Bad actors also infiltrate companies through the hiring process—particularly for remote roles—to gain access to IP-related documents and trade secrets. It’s more important than ever to equip your cybersecurity and HR teams with procedures that catch these bad actors before they’re hired or fully onboarded.

IP Protection Checklist For Media & Entertainment Leaders

To ensure you’re taking the right steps to protect your company’s assets, use our checklist to determine any gaps in your intellectual property protection.

1. Audit IP Protection Strategy for AI Vulnerabilities

Review how generative AI tools interact with proprietary content.
Identify gaps in AI governance and copyright safeguards.

2. Implement Stronger Cybersecurity Policies and Procedures

Enforce multi-factor authentication and zero-trust frameworks.
Secure collaboration tools to prevent trade secret leaks.

3. Build a Talent Pipeline for IP Security Expertise

Hire top-tier cybersecurity engineers, IP lawyers, and AI ethics specialists.
Retain tribal knowledge through documentation and succession planning.

4. Consult Lawyers to Define Legal Specifications in Contracts for AI Use

Consult with lawyers or your internal legal team to include clauses on ownership, liability, and permitted use of IP with AI-generated content.
Update vendor agreements to reflect AI compliance requirements.

5. Evaluate Talent Vetting Processes to Mitigate Insider Risk

Conduct background checks for sensitive roles.
Implement role-based access controls for IP-sensitive projects.

6. Align Global Compliance with Multi-Region Content Distribution

Map out GDPR, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), EU Copyright Directive, and AI Act requirements.
Create compliance playbooks for regional and international teams.

7. Establish AI Governance Frameworks

Develop formal AI-use policies for employees and contractors.
Monitor AI-generated outputs for copyright and trademark risks.

8. Invest in IP Monitoring and Detection Tools

Deploy watermarking and blockchain-based rights management.
Use AI-driven tools to detect piracy and deepfake content.

9. Strengthen Internal Trade Secret Protection

Classify and encrypt proprietary workflows and algorithms.
Train staff on confidentiality protocols and insider threat awareness.

10. Prepare for Emerging Threats

Include deepfake risk mitigation in fraud prevention strategies.
Regularly update risk assessments for immersive tech and OTT platforms.

Insight Global Is Your Strategic Services Partner

IP protection is a business-critical challenge that demands a holistic approach. It’s imperative for media and entertainment companies to bolster cybersecurity measures through services, platforms, and engineering experts. Legal teams must also actively stay on top of internal IP policies as generative AI continues to develop and interact with unprotected global data. And the full legal ramifications of potential AI copyright infringement have yet to be seen.

Finding the right talent and systems to safeguard your IP can be challenging. But whether you need help strengthening your cybersecurity and legal teams or integrating the latest technology to increase IP protection, our experts are ready to support your needs. Insight Global is your staffing and strategic services partner for securing content, talent, and compliance in a rapidly evolving media landscape. Reach out to our experts today to start a conversation.

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