Legal professionals forecasting sharp rise in online IP infringements

While 85% of those professionals surveyed report an increase in IP infringements being handled by their firms over the past 12 months, 90% are expecting more in the year ahead, with 89% predicting a continued escalation across the next three years.

While the most common forms of IP infringement are rated as counterfeiting, trademark abuse and brand impersonation, all of which can erode consumer trust and inflict long-term financial and reputation damage, the threat posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) looms large. No fewer than 88% of respondents suggest that AI-enabled systems are driving an increase in infringement activity, while 93% are concerned that AI-generated fake assets such as logos, images and content could materially harm their business.

The findings emerge from CSC’s latest study entitled ‘IP Frontiers Report 2025: Proactive Security Against IP Infringement’ that surveyed 300 senior legal, compliance and IP professionals operating in Europe (including the UK), the Asia Pacific region and North America.

“Given how much commerce and communication takes place online,” observed Ihab Shraim, CTO of CSC’s Digital Brand Services division, “any given brand’s reputation is built on its online presence. Guarding that presence is a responsibility companies should take very seriously indeed.”

Shraim added: “There’s a massive influx of sophisticated threat vectors targeting corporations. The easiest targets are domain names and IP. In the past, fraudsters would send hundreds of thousands of phishing e-mails in the hope that 2% or 3% of recipients would respond. Today, fraudulent activity is more targeted and comes with a much higher rate of success, particularly so as AI quickly becomes a major accelerant.”

Fake domain names

CSC’s study also finds that fake domain names are often the first step in large-scale infringement campaigns. Although 76% of organisations have a domain management strategy in place, only 16% of legal teams enjoy total visibility in terms of how their portfolios are managed. This can create oversights that leave brands exposed to fraud, phishing and impersonation scams.

Many companies are adapting to these threats. Partnerships with third party specialists are playing an increasing role. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents note that they expect significant increases in brand protection and IP enforcement budgets over the next three years, while more than half (56%) suggest they already outsource some of their monitoring efforts. This is a trend that’s fully expected to rise as organisations begin to seek more advanced tools and faster takedown mechanisms.

Ian McConnel, chief legal officer at CSC, said: “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. Like it or not, domain management is a key part of cyber security strategies. It’s not just about protecting crown jewel domain names.”

McConnel concluded: “Reactive defenses are no longer enough. Fraudsters exploit low-cost and fast-moving tools to impersonate brands at scale. As AI adoption expands the avenues for infringement, companies that adopt proactive and multi-layered protection by integrating legal, IT and security teams and partnering with trusted corporate registrars will be best positioned to safeguard brand reputation in the AI era.”