Definition of Intellectual Property

December 6th, 2007

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.
Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs.
Intellectual Property is the property that can be protected under law, including copyrightable works, ideas, discoveries, and inventions. Such property would include novels, sound recordings, or a cure for a disease.

Any intangible asset that consists of human knowledge and ideas is an intellectual property. Some examples are patents, copyrights, trademarks and software. Most such assets cannot be recognized on a balance sheet when internally generated, since it is very difficult to objectively value intellectual property assets (slightly different rules apply in the case of software). They can, however, be included in a balance sheet if acquired, which allows a more accurate valuation for the asset (which is the acquisition cost).

Intellectual Property is a broad categorical description for the set of intangibles owned and legally protected by a company from outside use or implementation without consent. Intellectual property can consist of patents, trade secrets, copyrights and trademarks, or simply ideas.

The concept of intellectual property relates to the fact that certain products of human intellect should be afforded the same protective rights that apply to physical property. Most developed economies have legal measures in place to protect both forms of property.

Companies are diligent when it comes to identifying and protecting intellectual property because it holds such high value in today’s increasingly knowledge-based economy. Extracting value from intellectual property and preventing others from deriving value from it is an important responsibility for any company.

Many forms of IP cannot be listed on the balance sheet as assets, but the value of such property tends to be reflected in the price of the stock. Management’s ability to manage these effectively and turn profits is just one example.

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    Auction Intellectual property

    December 6th, 2007

    The first intellectual property rights auction in Europe is to be held in Munich in May 2007

    At a hotel in Munich Webasto, a German auto parts maker plans to do something nearly unthinkable: license the rights to one of its best-selling products - a roof-top solar panel for cars and trucks - to the highest bidder at a public auction.

    For a decade, Webasto, based in the Munich suburb of Stockdorf, has spent millions negotiating the sale of licenses for its vehicle solar panels to automakers like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Opel, Volkswagen and Audi. But it is now set to sell nonexclusive rights at the first intellectual property, or IP, auction in Europe. Organizers of the auction hope it will open a new sales channel to speed the transfer of intellectual property in a cheaper, more transparent marketplace.

    “The knowledge society is becoming more and more important,” said Manfred Petri, of IP Auctions, the Hamburg company that is organizing the event and that is owned by a group of European patent lawyers, IP assessors and private investors. “The values being created by intellectual property are becoming too large to trade in a clandestine market.”

    Global sales of IP surged with the rise of the digital economy, with annual transactions rising from just $10 billion in 1990 to $200 billion this year, according to Petri.

    The auction has attracted the interest of 84 sellers who are trading licenses and patents for technologies ranging from industrial coating machinery to treatments for psoriasis and skin cancer.

    The minimum value of the IP being auctioned in Munich is more than €5 million, or $6.7 million, according to organizers. A third of the sellers are large companies like Bayer, Rolls-Royce Deutschland and ABB; a third are individuals; the rest are universities and research institutes.

    Many sellers are hoping for a new sales channel for IP, which is costly to market through the traditional method of hiring patent attorneys to negotiate with potential buyers. Webasto is hoping to get a seven-digit sum for the license to its sun-roof solar panel, which generates electricity to ventilate parked cars on hot summer days.

    “Climate change is a very big topic right now and we are approaching this auction with that in mind,” said the director of intellectual property services for Webasto.

    Smaller sellers, who often lack the clout to obtain large IP royalty fees in negotiations with corporations, are also hoping for better profits. That includes Ipal, an organization that markets patents developed by researchers at universities and teaching hospitals. In Munich, Ipal is auctioning rights to inositolized phospholipids, a substance developed by researchers at Charité Hospital that has shown promise in treating skin ailments.

    To join the auction, Ipal is paying a €1,000 entry fee, which is a small fraction of the normal cost, said Marcel Tilmann, a manager at Ipal. “An auction brings together buyers and sellers in one room,” said Tilmann. “That means that there will be pressure to come to an agreement, which is often half the battle.”

    A Chicago company, Ocean Tomo, held the first IP auction in the world last year in San Francisco. An Ocean Tomo auction in April netted a record $11.4 million for sellers, including the largest single fee paid at such an auction, $3 million. Ocean Tomo plans to hold its first European auction on June 1 in London.

    “The auction is a unique platform; it creates a sense of urgency. It is appropriate not just for patents and licenses but for brands and catalogues.

    But Lothar Steiling, chief patent counsel at Bayer, who is also president of the German Association of Intellectual Property Experts, said auctions would probably fill a niche only for smaller IP sales, with larger sales remaining subject to protracted one-on-one negotiations.

    But even Bayer is willing to experiment. On Tuesday, it will auction off a license for electro chromic systems, a nanotechnology used to tint windows and enable car mirrors to be used as digital displays. Besides royalties, Steiling said Bayer wants to cut the cost of maintaining 80,000 patents.

    “If this auction is successful,” Steiling said, “we will be back.”

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    find patent and trademark attorneys

    December 6th, 2007

    Patents, trademarks and copyrights are areas that fall under intellectual property law because they are all considered intellectual property. In addition to there being attorneys that specialize in the broad intellectual property law area, there are also trademark attorneys, patent attorneys, and copyright lawyers that specifically deal with patents, trademarks and copyrights.

    These patent attorneys, trademark attorneys and copyrights attorneys can help you with legal issues surrounding the rights of ownership of patents, trademarks and copyrights; the application or registration of patents, trademarks and copyrights; licensing and transferring of rights; and the legal or illegal use of any of this intellectual property. The following are general descriptions of patents, trademarks and copyrights:

    * Trademark
    A trademark can be a logo, name, symbol, or device used to differentiate a product or service of one trader (or commercial entity) from that of another-brand identity. Trademark protection lasts for 10 years after registration, and is renewable.

    * Patent
    A patent is the grant of right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing an invention or discovery, including new and improved products and processes. Patents can be registered in foreign countries, last for 20 years and are renewable. But, if the patent expires, the exclusive rights to make, use, sell or import the invention or discovery is lost.

    * Copyright
    A Copyright is protection granted to authors of original authorship such as literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, and computer software, as well as performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and broadcasters in their radio and television programs. Example: The creators of your favorite music CD, movie, or computer game have a copyright on their work. Copyrights last for the life of an author plus 50 years.

    Because patents, trademarks and copyrights all fall under the broad area of intellectual property law, if you plan on obtaining a trademark, patent or copyright it is in your best interest to consult with a qualified trademark attorney, patent attorney or copyright lawyers to help you properly file for protection of your intellectual property. Find an attorney that’s right for you and your situation.

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    Intellectual Property Rights

    November 19th, 2007

    Intellectual Property Rights are the rights given to persons over the creation of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the creation of their creation for a certain period of time.Intellectual Property law covers Patents, Trademarks and Copyright. These are sufficiently different in their nature that no one view can be said to pervade the international arrangements with respect to IP.

    Patents provide a monopoly right to the first person (or institution) to invent a product or process. To prevent others from exploiting on the inventiveness of a few and to encourage new inventions, inventors are granted an exclusive, but limited right to exploit their inventions for a certain time period (usually 20 years). This provides an incentive for future innovation. Patent regimes tend to vary a fair bit between nations. International agreements serve primarily to ensure that domestic Patentees are not given preferential treatment.

    Trademark law is intended to protect companies’ investment in the “good will” they develop in their name or mark and protect consumers from confusion. A trade mark is the word or symbol adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify his goods and distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others.

    Copyright provides economic incentives for creation as well as protecting an authors’ creativity as embodied in a work. Copyright is the exclusive right to copy a creative work or allow someone else to do so. It includes the sole right to publish, produce or reproduce, to perform in public, to communicate a work to the public by telecommunications, to translate a work, and in some cases, to rent the work.

    Features of Intellectual Property Rights

    1. Intellectual property is intangible
    2. The rights to protect this property prohibit others from making, copying, using or selling the proprietary subject matter.
    3. Under biotechnology, one of the most important examples of intellectual property is the processes and products, which result from the development of genetic engineering techniques through the use of restriction enzymes to create recombinant D.N.A.

    Conclusion

    Intellectual property rights are a complex, multifaceted area and one in which corporate strategy is very poorly understood. Fundamentally, IPR management is a crucial activity best entrusted to experts in the field.

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