Here are some thoughts on intellectual property if you’re about to go through a business transformation:
- Create a new IP Strategy to complement the business after transformation.
- What Products or Services are you retiring? What IP is associated with them? Will you cull the registered rights immediately or is there some commercial benefit to holding them for a while longer? Are there licensing options that arise here?
- What new Products or Services are going to come online? How advanced is your IP Strategy for these? How advanced is your analysis of the IP ecosystem in these new areas (including key players, potential collaborators and competitors)?
- What new IP risks will arise in the transformed business? Do you have a process in place to identify and deal with them?
- What risks will diminish or disappear with the change? What reporting do you need to do in this regard?
- Are there new issues to consider from an IP Management perspective? Are there new types of rights? New countries to cover? New relationships to build?
- Select a small team to work through these and other related issues, then whiteboard or better still, wargame what it will look like.