**Discussion:**

Knowledge of intellectual property, particularly in the manufacturing sector, is usually protected in legal terms, such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. However, it is argued that the protection mechanisms in the service sector need to be broadened to include other mechanisms [25]. Scholars claimed that knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) firms can include other mechanisms for protection, such as complexity of design, lead-time advantages on competitors, education and training, codes of conduct, and incentive measures in addition to legal methods [16, 26]. As the CROs' data and results of clinical trials are very important to their pharmaceutical clients, they must strive to protect them.
