Value Capture of your business - Part 3
How does my company's ability to compete in the market depend on its intellectual property?
Intellectual property can generate value for a business in several ways. One of the most important ways is by providing a competitive advantage in the marketplace. By protecting your company's ideas, brands, and inventions, through the strategic obtainment and deployment of various assets, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, you can prevent others from copying them and gain a unique advantage over your competitors. For instance, patents can safeguard a business' creative goods or methods, barring competitors from replicating them and granting the business a monopoly in the market. By differentiating a company's goods or services from those of its rivals, trademarks can increase brand awareness and consumer loyalty. Software or aesthetic designs created by a firm might be protected by copyrights, which forbid unauthorized use or duplication. By enabling a business to maintain the confidentiality of certain knowledge, such as secret formulas or production techniques, trade secrets can provide a business a competitive edge.
Other ways that your intellectual property may generate value for your business may be through a program of licensing or selling of these types of assets to other companies, generating revenue and creating new business opportunities. We have also seen intellectual property deployed to create value by using it as collateral for loans, using it to attract investors, and using it to negotiate better terms with suppliers and partners.
However, to generate value from intellectual property, it's important to properly identify and protect it. This should properly involve conducting an IP audit, developing and implementing your own “capture and protect” strategy, valuation analysis to determine the value (e.g., monetary and/or freedom to operate) of your IP assets and implementing strategies to protect them from infringement. Some common mistakes that companies may make when trying to monetize their intellectual property include failing to properly identify their IP assets, failing to protect their IP through patents or trademarks, and failing to enforce their IP rights through litigation when necessary.
Overall, intellectual property can be a valuable asset for any business to help develop new revenue streams, expand into new areas, and improve ties with clients and partners, but it's important to understand how to properly identify, protect, and monetize it in order to maximize its potential value.
To learn more about how your business can actually capture this value? In the following final Part of this 4 part mini-blog series, Rueppell Law provides suggestions of what to consider — STAY TUNED!
Contact the professionals at Rueppell Law (Connect@Rueppell-Law.com) today and let us show you how easy it can be to get the customized IP solution that will maximize the value of your business.
