Innovate or Perish: Managing the Enduring Technology Company in the Global Market

2. The IP Toolkit: Maximizing Business Value from Intellectual Property

Edmund Walsh

THE EARLY 1980s marked the beginning of the modern era of intellectual property (IP). In the prior era, IP rights were distrusted, being equated with monopolies, which were viewed as “evil.” As a result, IP rights were often not enforced; there was no predictability, and IP rights were not a tool on which businesses could rely.

By the early 1980s, perceptions of IP had changed. The federal circuit court was established to hear appeals from all patent cases, with the hope of creating more predictability in patent enforcement. Along with the predictability came a willingness by the courts to recognize and enforce the value of IP.

Businesses responded by attaching greater importance to IP. Many began to affirmatively plan IP strategies. Early strategies were basic, focusing on either offensive or defensive use of IP, meaning that IP either would be used to block competition or to deter competitors contemplating enforcing their IP rights. With the increased utilization of IP, strategies were developed with the intent to extract value specifically focused on “mining” existing portfolios.

More recently, there has been a recognition that value can be increased by integrating IP and business strategy. Following are some rules for identifying the value of IP within an organization and methods of capturing that value.