What is an Intellectual Property Strategy?

Jane Lambert
19 May 2017 Revised 01.09.2017 and 08.04.2023

Intellectual property strategy is the systematic application of intellectual property laws to achieve business objectives. It can include anything from a decision not to secret disclose the information except in confidence that may never be reduced to a lengthy policy document covering a business's prosecution, licensing and enforcement strategy in multiple jurisdictions. The purpose of such a strategy is to prioritize expenditure, monitor outcomes and generally facilitate decision-making.

Relationship to a Business Plan

 A properly constructed IP strategy should complement and amplify a business plan in much the same way as a marketing plan and budget are supposed to do. Sometimes it may be convenient to annexe the IP strategy to the business plan together with those other documents. The time span of the IP strategy should be consistent with the business plan, expenditure must not exceed whatever provision may have been made for IP in the budget, patenting must relate to the company's plans for research and development and trade marks to its plans for distribution and marketing.

Intellectual Property Audit

In order to plan effectively, a business should have precise knowledge of its intellectual assets and actual and potential intellectual liabilities in each of the countries in which it operates and, if different, in which its competitors operate.  This will require regular intellectual property audits.

Who should devise the Strategy?

 Because an IP strategy should complement and amplify a business plan it should be drawn up by the business owner or senior management in cooperation with the company's professional advisers. These will usually include the company's lawyers and patent or trade mark attorneys but should not be limited to them. There will also be important roles for the company's financial, marketing and technical advisers.  Wherever possible, the team should include an IP strategist, ideally someone who is independent of the attorneys and other legal services providers and can, therefore, advise objectively. Members of the specialist IP bar are well suited for that role.

Further Reading
Jane Lambert’s Articles

Other Works

Author
Date
Title
Jim Blasingame
15.06.13
Ralph Eckhart
03.10.12
What is IP Strategy? IPstrategy.co.
European IPR Helpdesk
08.2017
Jackie Hutter

What is an IP Strategist? IP Maximizer Blog
Benjamin Lehberger
31.10.16
Innovation Tactics
09.12.16
Catherine Delevoye
Oct 2015
John Palfrey

Intellectual Property Strategy. MIT Press
Robert Pitkethly

IP Strategy, Handbook of IP Practices
Robert Pocknell and others
Kate Wilson
14.06.12
WIPO

Popular posts from this blog

Copyright in Photographs: Temple Island Collections and Creation Records

Image
In our very first NIPC newsletter which we published in June 1997 I wrote a case note on Mr. Justice Lloyd's decision in  Creation Records Ltd. and Others v News Group Newspapers Ltd   [1997] EMLR 444, [1997] EWHC Ch 370, (1997) 16 Tr LR 544. In that case Mr. Noel Gallagher of Oasis and others applied for an interlocutory injunction to restrain The Sun from offering for sale and selling a poster of Oasis that featured a photo of an elaborate set that included a white Rolls Royce in a country club swimming pool. The Sun's photograph was very similar to the photograph that appeared on an Oasis album cover. The similarity arose because The Sun's photographer shot the same scene at roughly the same time and from the same angle as Mr. Gallagher's photographer but he did not reproduce any part of Oasis's print or negative. The learned judge held that the plaintiffs had no arguable case for infringement of copyright though he accepted that they had an arguable case for br...
Read more

"What is meant by "Due Cause" in s.10 (3) of the Trade Marks Act? The Red Bull Case

Image
Amsterdam   Source Wikipedia According to Wikipedia  Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 5.2 billion cans sold in 2012. Its manufacturer, Red Bull GmbH , has registered the RED BULL mark has registered those words and their accompanying logo as word and device marks in trade mark registries around the world including the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property ( "BOIP" ) . The company registered that sign with BOIP for non-alcoholic drinks in class 32 with effect from 11 July 1983. After decades of massive sales and extensive advertising nobody could argue that that mark has a reputation within the meaning of art 5 (2) of the Trade Marks Directive (Directive 2008/95/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 22 October 2008   to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks OJ 8.11.2008 p 299/25).  S.10 (3) of our Trade Marks Act 1994   implements that provision. There is in the Net...
Read more

Copyright: Creation Records Ltd. v News Group

It is trite law that if two photographers take identical pictures of the same scene at the same time from the same position each of their photographs is an original work and neither infringes the copyright in the other. However, much of the skill of a photographer lies in his choice of subject and the arrangement of the scene. The question whether copyright subsists independently in such an arrangement arose in Creation Records Ltd. v News Group Newspapers Ltd . (1997) The Times 27 April.   The Facts A swimming pool at a country club was drained and various props including a white Rolls Royce motor car assembled for a photograph of a well-known group of musicians for reproduction on their album cover. Although the public was not admitted to the session certain fans of the group who happened to be there were allowed to photograph the scene before official pictures were taken. A freelance photographer who was booked into the club photographed the scene during the session. One of his pict...
Read more