Intellectual Property Assets
Intellectual Property assets exist in all businesses, whether it be formal IP such as granted patents and registered trade marks, or informal IP such as trade secrets and know-how.
It is likely that your company will rely on some IP assets in order to generate revenue, support growth and sustain your company’s competitive advantage. However, in the context of a business in financial difficulty, IP-rich businesses may have a range of yet to be discovered options available to them to alleviate financial pressures, through exploiting their already present and likely undervalued IP assets. It is useful to understand the fundamentals of each IP asset class and consider how this could be of benefit to your company going forward.
IP assets can be generalized into two main categories:
Formal IP
Formal IP is generally the most recognizable form of IP in a business. Formal IP is often covered in two main categories:
Registered rights: includes patents, trade marks, design rights, all of which are capable of being formally registered for protection
Copyright: covering IP that is mostly in a written down format and include literacy work such as novels, poems, plays, films and drawings. Copyright is not capable of being formally registered but provides an automatic right, which arises as soon as the original work is created.
Formal IP asset classes include:
- Patents
- Trade Marks
- Designs
- Copyright
Informal IP (we often call them Business IP Assets)
Informal IP asset classes are not capable of being formally registered, and thus their importance is less obvious within a business. Your business may however rely on various Informal IP Assets; therefore, it is important to recognize these and understand how to protect and manage them.
Informal IP asset classes include:
- Brand and Reputation
- Key Organisational Knowledge
- Trade Secrets
- Proprietary Software Code
- Strategy & Market Intelligence
- Critical Partners, Suppliers & Customer Relationships
- Know-How & Key People
- R&D and Innovation
- Critical Business Processes
