WILMINGTON, DE — A growing wave of online intellectual property (IP) infringements is fueling alarm among global legal leaders, according to new research commissioned by CSC, a leading provider of business administration and compliance solutions. The study found that 91% of senior legal professionals are concerned about online IP threats, with 85% reporting an increase in infringement activity over the past year and 90% expecting even more in the year ahead.
The 2025 IP Frontiers Report surveyed 300 senior legal, compliance, and IP professionals across Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America. It found that artificial intelligence is a major driver behind this surge, with 88% saying AI-enabled systems are accelerating infringement and 93% worried that AI-generated fake assets—such as counterfeit logos, images, and content—could cause real harm to their businesses.
“With how much commerce and communication takes place online, a brand’s reputation is built on its online presence and guarding it is a responsibility companies should take seriously,” said Ihab Shraim, Chief Technology Officer of CSC’s Digital Brand Services division. “There’s a massive influx of sophisticated threat vectors targeting corporations, and the easiest targets are domain names and IP. In the past, fraudsters would send hundreds of thousands of phishing emails hoping that 2% or 3% would respond. Today, fraudulent activity is more targeted and comes with a much higher rate of success, particularly as AI quickly becomes a major accelerant.”
The report found that fake domain names are often the starting point for large-scale infringement campaigns. Although 76% of organizations maintain a domain management strategy, only 16% of legal teams have full visibility into their portfolios—leaving critical gaps that expose brands to impersonation, fraud, and phishing attacks.
Many companies are responding by investing in proactive defense strategies and outsourcing brand protection efforts. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents expect significant increases in brand protection and IP enforcement budgets over the next three years, while more than half (56%) already rely on third-party specialists for monitoring and enforcement—a number projected to grow as threats intensify.
“The ability for fraudsters to carry out IP infringements is iterating at such a pace that it will be to everyone’s benefit to be more aware of what’s happening, to be more security minded, and to foster stronger collaboration among internal teams and external specialists,” said Ian McConnel, Chief Legal Officer at CSC. “Reactive defenses are no longer enough. Fraudsters exploit low-cost, fast-moving tools to impersonate brands at scale. As AI adoption expands the avenues for infringement, companies that adopt proactive, multi-layered protection—integrating legal, IT, and security teams, and partnering with trusted corporate registrars—will be best positioned to safeguard brand reputation in the AI era.”
CSC’s findings reflect a rapidly shifting IP landscape, where digital identity and cybersecurity have become inseparable from corporate reputation. For many global firms, protecting IP in the age of AI is no longer a compliance task—it’s a business imperative.
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