Managing Intellectual Property Assets

Although most companies (whether in the basic industry, service or high-tech sector) tend to be aware of the value of the company’s intellectual property assets (including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, etc.), few have yet drafted an IP strategy laying down a policy and process on how to best protect and preserve IP assets and use IP to generate value for the business.

Investing in IP asset management has many benefits. In addition to protecting competitive positioning and goodwill, it helps the company focus on what is really important in view of its business and the business environment. When there is no clear IP strategy aligned with the corporate business strategy, it is easy for the company to incur unnecessary costs generated by, e.g. a wide arsenal of patents or trademarks maintained in countries where the company no longer pursues vital business interests or with regard to products outside the core business focus.