Protecting Your Business Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property (IP) is often a company’s single most valuable asset. And yet IP is hard to value, widely misunderstood and frequently under-exploited. IP accounts for an estimated $5trn of GDP in the US alone. It covers patents, trademarks, domain names, copyrights, designs and trade secrets. Unsurprisingly, companies zealously guard their own ideas and challenge the IP of others. Damages arising from infringements have fostered a sizeable claims industry. But IP law is complex, and the business, financial and legal issues around it are difficult to navigate. Court decisions and interpretation of IP laws can be unpredictable, and can dramatically change the fortunes of businesses that rely on their IP – as demonstrated in the pharmaceutical industry’s battle with generic drugs. This comprehensive guide to intellectual property will help companies, investors, and creative thinkers understand the scope and nature of IP issues, pose the right questions to their advisers and maximize the value from this crucial intangible asset.

A company’s most valuable assets may not be physical. This book shows how to protect them without fences or security guards!You can’t touch it or feel it. Sometimes you can’t even see it. Yet, intellectual property continues to soar in value, comprising an increasingly greater portion of a typical company’s assets. In the age of instant global communication, understanding what intellectual property is, how to protect it, and how to enhance its value are prerequisites for corporate survival.Enter attorney Deborah E. Bouchoux and her informative book, Protecting Your Company’s Intellectual Property. Packed with fascinating and illuminating examples, this book is a succinct, yet comprehensive discussion of the four key areas of intellectual property: trademarks,copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. In addition to defining these areas (for instance, did you know that customer lists and marketing plans are protectable trade secrets?), the book offers practical tools for protecting intellectual property, including:Trademark and copyright application formsSample employment agreementsAn Internet usage policyTips on preventing unauthorized dissemination of information via the WebA guide for conducting an IP auditAnd much, much more.

A brand is more than a snazzy logo – but what else is there to consider when building a brand? Do you really need a brand for business success? And what has intellectual property got to do with anything? A strong, authentic brand is what makes your business stand out from the crowd – and what drives long term success. But the branding industry can be an overwhelming minefield, full of conflicting advice and multiple disciplines – so how do you navigate your way through the process? That’s where Brand Tuned comes in. With the step-by-step TUNED methodology, you will: • define your brand to drive the business forward and help it stand out • know what brand promise will attract your ideal client • pick a name that will put you “front of mind” • ensure that the design elements you choose are distinctive and ‘ownable’ • train your team to live the brand. Drawing from evidence-based research, interviews with experts, and years of experience supporting businesses, Brand Tuned is the first branding guide written by an intellectual property lawyer who specialises in trademarks and brands. By incorporating the principles of intellectual property law right from the start of the process, branding expert Shireen Smith will show you how to create and build the brand that is right for you and your business – while avoiding the potential pitfalls. Shireen Smith is an intellectual property lawyer specialising in trademarks and brands, with years of experience in marketing small businesses. Her TUNED framework is designed to guide you to create a brand that attracts sales for the long term.

A comprehensive training program that improves the knowledge and skills required for successful patent applications.

How a flexible and creative approach to intellectual property can help an organization accomplish goals ranging from building market share to expanding an industry. Most managers leave intellectual property issues to the legal department, unaware that an organization's intellectual property can help accomplish a range of management goals, from accessing new markets to improving existing products to generating new revenue streams. In this book, intellectual property expert and Harvard Law School professor John Palfrey offers a short briefing on intellectual property strategy for corporate managers and nonprofit administrators. Palfrey argues for strategies that go beyond the traditional highly restrictive “sword and shield” approach, suggesting that flexibility and creativity are essential to a profitable long-term intellectual property strategy—especially in an era of changing attitudes about media. Intellectual property, writes Palfrey, should be considered a key strategic asset class. Almost every organization has an intellectual property portfolio of some value and therefore the need for an intellectual property strategy. A brand, for example, is an important form of intellectual property, as is any information managed and produced by an organization. Palfrey identifies the essential areas of intellectual property—patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret—and describes strategic approaches to each in a variety of organizational contexts, based on four basic steps. The most innovative organizations employ multiple intellectual property approaches, depending on the situation, asking hard, context-specific questions. By doing so, they achieve both short- and long-term benefits while positioning themselves for success in the global information economy.

Counterfeit products represent a growing problem for a wide range of industries. There are many estimates of the size of this problem most of which coalesce around $500-billion annually on a global basis. Overall, a wide range of industries agree that there is a severe problem with the global protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), yet, there have been virtually no attempts to describe all aspects of the problem. This book aims at giving the most complete description of various characteristics of the intellectual property rights (IPR) environment in a global context. The authors believe a holistic understanding of the problem must include consumer complicity to purchase counterfeit, actions of the counterfeiters (pirates) as well as actions (or inaction) by home and host governments, and the role of international organizations and industry alliances. Only after establishing how all the actors in the IPR environment relate to one another can we describe global protection of the intellectual property rights environment and the managerial response of IPR owners and/or industry associations to combat this ongoing problem. The book concludes with pragmatic recommendations for protecting intellectual property given the recent trends discussed in the previous chapters, making it of interest to practitioners and policy-makers alike.

Everybody wants to think of a great idea that will make them rich. A good indication that you have a great idea is that someone copies it, but by then it can be too late. This is too bad as a lot of the knowhow to protect your ideas is free but buried in a mass of detail and exceptions which most people put in the "too hard" basket. Some IP protection you must pay for, such as trademarks but it is well worth it, provided it is done properly

A practical approach to the modern management of intellectual property The world has changed significantly in the past decade, resulting in new behavior and practice related to the ownership and management of intellectual property. This book helps executives, attorneys, accountants, managers, owners, and others understand the legal, technological, economic, and cultural changes that have affected IP ownership and management. It provides case studies, practical examples and advice from seasoned and enduring professionals who have adopted new and streamlined methods and practices whether as in-house or outside counsel, or service providers. Provides a practical yet global approach to corporate IP management Serves as a resource for in-house and outside counsel, executives, managers, accountants, consultants and others at mid-size and large corporations Helps professionals navigate the numerous new challenges that have changed the ways in which intellectual property is obtained and managed Details the latest trends in valuation, exploitation, and protection of intellectual property Extensive coverage of the legal, financial, accounting and general business aspects of intellectual property The combined expertise of lawyers, accountants, economists and other business professionals Timely and relevant in view of the global economic recession amidst rampant technological development, this book offers new solutions, practices, policies and strategies as a result of changes in economies and markets, laws, globalization, environment, and public perception.