Business assets advice
Intellectual property

Last week I spoke about the ability to identify Intellectual Property (IP) in your business and I urged business owners to act in identifying this asset.

I introduced Jamie White from Ffrench Commercial lawyers and his specialist knowledge in this area.

In this week’s discussion I will concentrate on the protection of IP and ultimately the commercialisation of this important business asset.

Sensible protection of IP will afford a business owner the exclusive legal right to commercially exploit their IP for a certain period of time.

Some forms of IP are automatically protected upon creation, such as copyright and circuit layout rights.

Others, like trademarks, patents and confidential information and designs require practical steps to obtain protection.

Securing IP rights can create exceptionally lucrative business opportunities for business owners.

This is because IP ownership provides unique rights for commercial leverage and affords protection against competitors.

Owners of IP can create relationships with their parties to commercialise them and more importantly prevent others from exploiting their IP without proper consent.

Once a business’s IP is adequately protected, strategies for commercial exploitation of the IP can be considered.

IP commercialisation is the process of turning an idea or an invention into a marketable product or service.

The commercialisation of a business owner’s IP can lead to new business opportunities and increased profitability – always a good thing. There are many ways to commercialise IP, the most common being via licensing and franchising arrangements, or a complete assignment of rights.

Then again, a business owner may develop their IP into a marketable state without external involvement.

This means taking on the entire workload and risk associated with launching new products and services derived from their IP.
For further information on this column or to contact Ffrench Commercial Lawyers please contact NISER on 5442 5050 or niser@niser.org.au.

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