Strategic Intellectual Property Solutions
Resources and Strategies for Developing a Successful IP Strategy
Intellectual Property is not Optional
IP assets and innovations are important to many businesses - regardless of industry or types of products/services offered.
Use this resource to discover systems and strategies for identifying, protecting and leveraging Intellectual Property assets to accelerate your business.
0
Every person in an organization has the potential to support an innovation strategy. Regardless of training or job responsibility, everyone is capable of identifying innovative solutions even if they are not responsible for developing that solution.
For example, employees in any department may see inefficiencies in company procedures – such as manufacturing procedures, shipping procedures and so forth. Correcting these inefficiencies can reduce expenses and improve customer satisfaction.
Create an innovation culture by educating all personnel about the value of innovations to the company. This innovation culture helps foster a team environment and increases the likelihood of identifying important ideas and suggestions. Don’t limit innovative activities to people in the “research and development” department – I’ve seen many examples of employees without any technical background identifying significant innovations that result in new product offerings for the company.
Encourage innovations in your business by offering rewards and recognition to company innovators. Innovation contests, brainstorming sessions and related activities also support an innovation culture in your business.
Many businesses search internally for innovative ideas. However, plenty of innovative suggestions are available from sources outside the company, such as current customers and prospective customers.
For example, customers may identify problems with an existing product or service. Solutions to these problems may represent an innovation that improves an existing product, thereby enhancing the product’s success in the marketplace.
Customers may also suggest desired features, enhancements or new products/services. Implementation of these suggestions can boost sales and expand a company’s product line.
Companies should encourage the gathering of customer feedback through salespeople, installers, customer support personnel, and so forth. This customer feedback needs to be recorded and communicated to the proper departments and personnel to consider implementation of the feedback.
Customer feedback is easily collected at minimal cost, and provides valuable suggestions directly from the marketplace.
Identifying innovations is an important step in generating, protecting and leveraging intellectual property assets. Innovations can help your business reduce expenses, create a competitive edge in the marketplace and increase revenue.
Innovation Disclosures. To be sure all innovations are identified in your company, implement an innovation disclosure program that allows all personnel to easily submit descriptions of their creative ideas. Each description should include the name of the individuals who developed the innovation, products or services that might benefit from the innovation and what steps have been taken to implement the idea.
Create a Simple System. Create a form or submission system that is fast and easy to use. The initial disclosure form should capture the key information necessary to determine the value of the innovation to the company. If a decision is made to leverage the innovation, additional information can be obtained at that time. A simple submission system will not be viewed as a burden by company personnel, and will likely result in documentation of more creative thoughts.
Tracking Innovations. Once submitted, use a tracking system to monitor the status of every disclosure submitted. This tracking system should identify deadlines, upcoming public disclosures and products or services that might benefit from the innovation.
Evaluation. Create a review committee to regularly evaluate disclosures and determine whether the innovation can be leveraged to advance the company’s business objectives. This review committee should include personnel from different groups within the company, such as research and development, marketing and manufacturing. These groups provide diverse views of how to best leverage innovations in the company in a manner that is consistent with the company’s goals.
Encourage all personnel to submit their creative thoughts for evaluation – and reward those activities. Every person in your company is a potential innovator. Start capturing and leveraging those creative ideas today to expand your business and build your intellectual property assets.
Innovations are important to many businesses. Innovations often solve problems or improve an existing product or service. Innovations can also improve internal business procedures. Every individual, regardless of job function or training, is capable of identifying solutions – even if implementation or development of the solution is not their primary job function.
For example, company salespeople often receive feedback from customers and potential customers. This feedback may include problems or missing features with existing products. A salesperson must understand the importance of reporting that feedback to the company. Additionally, the salesperson should be encouraged to communicate their own ideas or suggestions for solving a problem or improving products/services.
Educate All Personnel. Educating all personnel about the value of innovations to the company fosters a “team environment” and increases the likelihood of identifying important ideas and suggestions. Also, encouraging different groups within the company to work together to create and implement new ideas strengthens the business. For example, if a customer service representative learns of a desired feature from a customer, that information is provided to the Product Development Group, which develops the new feature. The Marketing Department then promotes this new feature to increase sales and provide increased value to existing customers. Thus, several groups within the company can work together to leverage innovations.
Look Everywhere. Innovations are not limited to the products or services created by the company. Internal procedures, such as manufacturing processes, marketing procedures and sales techniques are subject to innovation. An innovative idea in the company’s manufacturing process can save money, increase quality and improve efficiency. Thus, it is important to teach personnel about innovation in all areas of the business.
Companies can encourage creative thinking by offering recognition and rewards to company innovators. Brainstorming sessions, innovation contests, employee bonuses and related activities are important aspects of a successful Intellectual Property Strategy.
Do you have a system for identifying ALL innovations and intellectual property developed in your company?
I have worked with many companies that did not have a well-defined approach to identifying innovations or intellectual property developed within their business. When I am working with those companies, a top priority is creating a system to identify and record all innovations developed throughout the company.
To ensure that your business is identifying all innovations and intellectual property, consider the following:
- Every person in your business is a Potential Innovator. Many companies assume that only the “scientists” or employees in the Research and Development Group are innovators. If you follow this approach, you will likely miss out on many valuable innovations. I have lost count of the number of times that a valuable innovation was developed by an employee who was not involved with product design or product development. I have worked with inventors who are shipping clerks, administrative assistants, sales representatives and marketing managers. Every person in your business should be treated as a potential innovator.
- Implement a system to discover ALL innovations. Create a system that encourages all employees to submit their innovative ideas for company review. Offer rewards and incentives to those innovators. Your system should accurately track all innovations submitted and include a periodic review process to evaluate those innovations.
- Teach ALL employees the importance of Identifying Innovations. Provide a training seminar, recorded video presentation, or other educational material for all employees to describe the process for identifying innovations. Explain how each employee can submit innovations for company review and the innovation reward program offered by the company. Also, emphasize the importance of innovation to the company’s future growth.
These techniques are useful in businesses of all sizes and in any industry. If your company does not already have a system for identifying all innovations, consider implementing an Innovation Action Plan today.
When developing an Intellectual Property Strategy, it is important to understand the different types of intellectual property (IP) assets and how they are applied to business activities. This article provides an overview of several types of IP assets.
- Copyright – Provides a legal right to exclude others from publishing, selling, or distributing a literary or artistic work. Copyright protection applies to specific expressions of an idea, but not to abstract ideas themselves. Consider copyright protection for books, articles, manuscripts, music, artwork and computer software.
- Trademark – Applies to a word, design, logo, picture, slogan, or other symbol used to identify a source of products or services. A trademark is typically identified using a TM, SM, or ® notation. The ® symbol designates a Federally Registered Trademark (registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office). Companies commonly use trademarks to protect their company name, advertising slogans and corporate logos/identifiers.
- Trade Secret – Business information that is subject to reasonable efforts by the business to keep the information confidential. This information has value to the company because it is not generally known in the marketplace. Examples include recipes, formulas, customer lists, marketing plans and manufacturing techniques.
- Patent – A grant by the government to an inventor. The inventor has the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention. Three general types of patents include utility patents, design patents and plant patents. Utility patents are useful in protecting the functional aspects of a product or process. A design patent protects the ornamental design of a product. Plant patents protect new varieties of living plants. Consider patent protection for products, methods, computer software, manufacturing processes and chemical compounds.
These different types of intellectual property offer varying levels of protection and distinct procedures necessary to protect the IP asset. A successful Intellectual Property Strategy considers each type of IP asset and leverages IP assets that are appropriate for the particular company and consistent with the company’s goals.
Back to top