There’s been some debate recently about how effectively the various players in the IP ecosystem are at communicating about IP to the broader community.  The debate was started by Neil Wilkof at IPFinance, was picked up by Joff Wild at the IAM-Magazine blog and more recently was commented on over at Tangible IP (ipVA’s blog). 
I recently chatted to Andrew Watson from ipVA about the blog post and his 5 point plan to help the IP world improve its communications skills.  Here are Andrew’s 5 points. 

1 – Develop a common language

2 – Get some perspective

3 – Educate

4 – De-emphasize the litigation effect

5 – Communicate clearly

What would you add?  Do you think there really is a problem?

I think that the IP ecosystem tends to think of itself as in some way separate or more important than the rest of the world.  It’s not.  Intellectual Property needs to be thought of in the context of the broader goals of an organization, whatever they may be.  It should be used to inform and leverage the broader strategy, it should not drive it.  Once this is properly understood, then it becomes much easier to fit IP and its concepts into the broader context – which is much more digestible for those not so familiar with IP.

(Photo credit: Desiree Delgado)