Archives
A list of strategic mistakes cannot ignore the value of ethics. It is a mistake not to employ good ethics in the conduct of IP strategy. The reason for this statement anchors on the fact that poor ethics tends to isolate the instigators from other people and enterprises. In the interplay between customers, partners, and competitors, isolation tends to lead to decline. Gaining a reputation for questionable ethics leads towards isolation as… Read More
Ok, I get it that lobbying can be an important part of an overall strategy and so hats off to those who have created some fog around a seemingly broken patent system. However, things have gone just a little too far now – and unfortunately all of the hyperbole is focused on the United States. To summarize Kenneth Lustig’s recent Forbes article on the topic: (and thanks to David Kline for sending… Read More
On several occasions this last year, we were asked to consult on business initiatives where the groundwork on the marketing plan had already been prepared by a well-recognized and prestigious management consulting firm. Our clients recognized in their planning that they had a major hole to fill in terms of an IP strategy plan. To get to the point, with all the good research that had gone into the marketing plans, no… Read More
The surest way not to be sued for IP infringement is to not infringe. While this does not guarantee that you will avoid some IP assertions anyway, having not actually infringed puts you on better ground than otherwise. It becomes our mistake number 6 when infringement is done out of negligence or ignorance, and it can also be a mistake when done with any degree of deliberation if you have misjudged the… Read More
Millions of dollars are invested every year in protecting new ideas through intellectual property – for many however the strength of these intellectual property rights is still largely misunderstood. Probably the most common mistake related to the strength of IP has not so much to do with the strength of the right itself but with the owner’s perception of what it means. An IPR will not give you the complete and utter… Read More
Any organization benefits from two core resource pools that it can tap into to gain competitive advantage and long term sustainable growth. These are: physical assets and intangible assets (that form the company’s intellectual capital (IC)). Resources in the physical asset pool can include land, machinery and other similar facilities. These are resources that you can touch, see, feel. Some characteristics of these assets are 1) they need to be acquired and… Read More
What is an ideal strategy and would you know one if it bit you? Why bother with it anyway? The ideal strategy is a strategy that provides 100% of the desired benefit and 0% drawback. It is a theoretical target given the mathematical reality that 1/0 (where whole benefit = 1, and no drawback = 0) does not exist – all strategies have drawbacks. A key question to ask, when planning IP… Read More
Focus on the effect you wish your IP to have, not on the IP itself. On many occasions during IP strategy training courses I have given, I have suggested that patent strategists learn how to play the Chinese game of Go. Go is a well-known game of strategy in the East, just as Chess is in the West. The mindset needed to win the game of Go is similar to the mindset… Read More
Welcome to the IP Think Tank podcast for Thursday 4 November 2010. In this show Duncan is joined by Kim Chotkowski, Stan Abrams and Robert Cantrell to discuss: China innovation and indigenous innovation Correlating innovation and patent filings in China Reverse guest host strategy US election and impact on patent reform Chinese patent trolls (cockroaches); and Twitter’s patent strategy We hope you enjoy this week’s show, and as always, we look forward… Read More
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