Clearview National March 2015 - Issue 160 | Page 88
businessnews
Take care of your intellectual property
before your competitors do
Innovation is driving advancement in every facet of our lives, but how do those
at the cutting edge of innovation ensure they benefit fully from their efforts?
»»Technology lawyer Andrew
Brennan, from leading commercial law
firm SGH Martineau explains, “Innovative
businesses must put intellectual property (IP)
considerations at the core of their strategic
planning. This will help identify and secure
opportunities afforded by IP earlier in the
innovation cycle, keep tabs on competitors
and ensure they are not infringing the rights
of others.
“Because IP covers such a broad range of
assets, from unregistered rights like copyright,
through to registered rights such as patents
and registered designs, many organisations
find the prospect of creating, implementing
and following a comprehensive IP strategy
daunting and often confusing; with many
simply ignoring the situation and missing out
on potentially huge benefits.
What’s IP?
“IP generally describes the results of creative
or innovative efforts and like other property,
can be owned, transferred, leased, given away
or sold.
Types of intellectual property include:
• patents for new or improved products
and processes
• trade marks for business names, logos,
strap lines and other aspects of a brand
• designs for the shape, style or appearance
of products
• copyright - this can be in music, artistic
or literary works including software
code
Protecting it
“Almost every type of business will
have some kind of IP, but before it can be
protected, it must be identified. This can be
done with an IP audit, which helps identify
the key intellectual property owned and used
by a business.
“Along with assessing key brands and
products, a good audit also looks at the less
obvious potential IP assets including product
certification and accreditations, regulation and
standards compliance, client lists and even
goodwill.
88 » M AR 2015 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
“Once everything has been identified and
recorded, the next step is to discover whether
the business owns the IP, to ensure it has full
rights to use and exploit it. For example, a
business must also consider the IP potentially
contained within agreements it enters into
with employees, consultants and other thirdparties, assessing the chain of ownership and
highlighting any risks.
Developing an IP strategy
“An IP strategy will help a business manage
its current IP, but also ensure it assumes a
more important role when planning for the
future. The strategy will include:
• highlighting areas of a business where IP
is likely to be created
• a legal audit to review IP created, owned
used and acquired by the business
• identifying potentially patentable
inventions that have already been devised
and draw out other ideas that may be
protectable, whilst reviewing policies
in place to identify, record and protect
intellectual property
• a competitor analysis to deliver an
appraisal of the products and intellectual
property of chosen competitors to
identify infringement risks, competitive
threats and new opportunities
• the business must regularly update its
strategy and initiate critical remedial
measures to protect IP and deal with
infringers
“Developing an IP strategy is of little
use if it is not implemented, maintained
and adhered to, with employees aware
the identification and protection of IP is
the responsibility of everyone within the
business.
Evaluating competitors
“Filing and prosecuting patents to protect
the innovations within a business can be
a powerful tool in securing competitive
advantage. But early in the R&D process,
a patent landscape can provide an initial
competitive analysis of companies that are
active in a particular field and identify areas
in which to differentiate a product and
competitive opportunities.
“Once a product is sufficiently designed,
patent landscaping can be used proactively
to identify infringement risks and help the
business make informed strategic decisions,
like redesigning the product to avoid
infringement, even licensing or acquiring the
threatening patent.
“A clear and comprehensive IP strategy
will help organisations avoid those ‘if only’
moments when a competitors strikingly
similar product or service proves hugely
successful and generates vast worldwide
revenues – for them.”