Vince Lombardi, the famous American football coach, said that, “Excellence is achieved by the mastery of the fundamentals.”  His football team were known to spend a lot of time practicing the fundamentals of blocking, tackling, and catching the ball.  All great plays are derived from these fundamentals.

For the IP strategist, the most fundamental aspect of IP protection is to have first rate IP prosecution.  Well-drafted and prosecuted IP can make up for many IP strategy mistakes, but mistakes on how IP documents are prepared and prosecuted can sink the best of IP strategies.

A necessary drive exists within the corporate world to drive down IP costs.  This makes sense to do.  Make sure you cut costs in the right places.  IP prosecution may not be that place if you put the enterprise at unnecessary risk by not having your ideas protected by attorneys who have truly mastered the prosecution art.  One missed tackle that should have been made can keep a contending football team out of the Super Bowl championship game.  The same is true for critical IP when it absolutely needs to stand up in court in order for the business to succeed.

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