| |
| |
|
|
Tel: +27 21 526 2800
Fax: +27 86 660 6208 / +27 21 526 2801
|
|
|
|
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
Intellectual property rights are
tools that are applied in
business. They can be expensive,
and acquiring them will require
time and resources. If you are
acquiring more than the odd
intellectual property right, it
is important to consider how you
will administer them and manage
their use.
The strategic use of
intellectual property rights
requires an understanding of
intellectual property law and
its application in the product
or service life cycle. To take a
simple example, patents and
designs require filing at
inception of a new product or
the rights are lost; at the same
time there are dangers in
delaying the filing of a
trademark even though such
applications need not be made
prior to using the trademark.
The correct time to check for
potential difficulties, and to
maximise your intellectual
property protection, is at the
commencement of an innovation
exercise. This applies
irrespective of whether the
innovation is of a technical
nature, or a new franchise
operation that is to be
launched.
Your intellectual assets, as
with any other assets, should
have their performance tracked
against cost, and an assessment
made. Intellectual property
rights should therefore be
recorded against a product or
service, and not filed as a
separate entity according to
some unconnected file reference.
You cannot, of course, assess an
intellectual property right
unless you know what strategic
purpose it was put to in the
first place, or to what product
or service it applies.
Similarly, intellectual property
rights should be reviewed
annually, at the same time as
the business that the
intellectual property rights
supports, is reviewed. If this
is done, you can get a sensible
decision on whether to renew or
lapse an intellectual property
right, or acquire new
intellectual property rights in
conjunction with fresh business
innovation.
All processes within Von Seidels
relating to the filing and
prosecution of intellectual
property rights are handled by
software developed by a Swedish
company, Patrix AB. The
software, which is sold under
the trade name Patricia™, has
been developed exclusively for
use by intellectual property law
firms. Patricia contains an
up-to-date database of all our
clients’ intellectual property
matters. Patricia is able to
generate various reports,
depending on our clients’ needs,
relating to the status of a
client’s intellectual property
matters. These reports can be
made available to our clients
online. Clients who subscribe to
this free of charge service will
be able to generate real time
reports of their intellectual
property portfolios. For more
information about this service,
please contact us.
Proper use of intellectual
property rights can provide and
maintain a competitive edge for
a company which understands
these rights and can manage
them. We urge you to contact us
for advice in this regard.
|
|
|
 |
|
© 2010 - Von Seidels Intellectual Property Attorneys
|
|
