The article gripped me so completely that I nearly spilled my morning coffee on my keyboard. It argued that legacy admissions, the practice of offering preferential treatment in college admissions to the children of alumni, should have been eliminated with the fall of affirmative action. After all, if our nation’s highest court ruled that underrepresented applicants could no longer receive preferential treatment, why should legacy applicants, a group research shows is overwhelmingly affluent, continue to enjoy it?

There was just one problem. The writing sounded awfully familiar. The cadence. The arguments. In fact, entire passages. Because I had written much of it months earlier.

When Competitors Can’t Beat You, They Copy You

As managing partner of Ivy Coach, my family’s generational college admissions consulting business, I’ve spent years helping build one of the most widely read resources on college admissions. Our blog has chronicled virtually every major shift in admissions over the past three decades. We’ve invested countless hours researching, reporting, writing, editing and refining our work. Unfortunately, we’ve also spent years defending it.

We’ve seen competitors copy our website pages verbatim. We’ve caught businesses lifting our own testimonials, biographies of our former admissions officers and even their photographs. We’ve found companies that forgot to replace “Ivy Coach” with their own firm’s name before publishing our work on their sites. Time after time, when confronted, the explanation is almost always the same: “Our web developer did it.” Almost never does an apology follow.

Instead, some attack our business’s fees, as though changing the subject somehow excuses copying another company’s intellectual property. It doesn’t.

As a business owner, I’ve worked with plenty of third-party contractors. If one of them infringed someone else’s intellectual property while representing my company, the responsibility would still be mine. Leadership means accountability.

I’ve learned that intellectual property isn’t simply a legal issue. It’s a business issue. Your ideas, your voice and your brand are often among your company’s most valuable assets. If competitors can simply copy what makes your business distinctive, they’re not just stealing words. They’re also trying to erode the competitive advantage you’ve spent years building.

Enough Is Enough: Five Lessons To Defend Your Intellectual Property

​While I am not a lawyer and business owners should consult legal counsel on specific matters, below are five lessons I’ve learned defending my company’s intellectual property.

1. Intellectual property is an asset and deserves to be treated like one.

Creating original content provides copyright protection, but registering your copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office provides important additional benefits if you ever need to enforce your rights.

Whenever we substantially update important pages or publish major works, we register them. Think of copyright registration as insurance. You hope never to need it, but you’ll be glad it’s there if you do.

2. ’My web developer did it’ isn’t an excuse.

I’ve heard every variation: “We hired an outside agency.” “Our web developer posted it.” They’re all beside the point.

Clients don’t distinguish between your company and your contractors. Neither should you. If your business publishes infringing content, your business owns the mistake.

Likewise, don’t let someone else’s excuses diminish what happened. Copying another company’s work isn’t a compliment. It’s an attempt to benefit from someone else’s investment of time and expertise.

3. Ignoring infringement is not an effective strategy.

Too many business owners hesitate to enforce their rights because they worry about appearing confrontational. Don’t.

I’ve found that a professionally written cease-and-desist letter is enough in many cases. It doesn’t have to come from an attorney, although legal counsel is appropriate in some situations. Clearly identify the infringement, explain what must be corrected, outline any compensation you seek and establish a firm deadline. Ignoring infringement only invites more of it.

4. Enforcement is worth the effort.

A deadline only matters if it means something. If an infringer ignores your requests, be prepared to escalate. That may mean engaging legal counsel and exploring litigation.

Enforcement isn’t about being vindictive. It’s about protecting the value of what you’ve built. Companies willing to copy your work are often betting you’ll decide enforcement isn’t worth the effort. Don’t make that an easy bet.

5. Business owners must stay one step ahead.

Protecting intellectual property is an ongoing responsibility. AI has made copying content faster and easier than ever. That makes vigilance essential.

Regularly search for your content. Set up alerts. Periodically review competitors’ websites. You can use services such as Copyscape or, if you have a higher budget, Copyleaks to identify potential infringement. The sooner you discover it, the easier it is to address.

Protect The House You Built

Many business owners think intellectual property is something only technology companies or media organizations need to worry about. They’re mistaken.

Every original article you write, every page you publish and every photograph you commission contributes to your company’s value. Building those assets takes years. Allowing competitors to appropriate them takes only seconds.

As business owners, we have a responsibility not just to our companies but also to our employees and clients to protect what we’ve created.

Because if we don’t defend our own voice, someone else may claim it as their own.

The information provided here is not legal advice and does not purport to be a substitute for advice of counsel on any specific matter. For legal advice, you should consult with an attorney concerning your specific situation.