INTRODUCTION
Brands are an intellectual property asset. Unfortunately they
rarely appear on a company's balance sheet. As a consequence,
brands may often be inadequately identified, valued, protected and
exploited. Bearing this in mind, it is wise to institute a program
to protect and nurture your brands.
IDENTIFICATION
It is important to carry out a regular stocktake of your brands.
All your brands should be exhaustively listed and their ownership
verified. It may be that some of your brands are owned by now
defunct companies. It may be that the copyright in devices and
images contained in your brands actually vest in the advertising or
design agency who created them. If you are using any brands under
licence to third parties, you should ensure that you are complying
with the licence terms.
