Talking about intellectual property (IP) is more fun--and meaningful--when you think about it from a specific perspective.
Like any asset, the value of IP can depend on who owns it and how they intend to use it.
Here are several different perspectives on the value of IP from the roles of people and organizations who most commonly talk about intellectual property.
- Intellectual Property is a category of rights, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, that derive from intellectual creations and can be registered for the benefit of its creators or assigned owners.
- Intellectual Property is the set of rights we grant to inventors and authors to incentivize scientific improvements and creative arts.
- Intellectual Property defines tools to protect the value of our ideas that give us a defensible competitive advantage.
- Intellectual Property protects my invention from being stolen by big businesses, sneaky manufacturers, and investors.
- Intellectual Property protects the formal brand assets we’ve created to express our unique image to customers.
- Intellectual Property allows me to control how my artwork is used and distributed.
- Intellectual Property is a regime for slow-moving businesses who don’t innovate fast enough to build a customer base and stay ahead of the competition.
- Intellectual Property creates recognized, contractual vehicles for transferring research from professors to commercialization partners.
- Intellectual Property recognizes the contributions I’ve made in my field and allows me to provide a form a validation to investors and funding sources.
- Intellectual Property gives me rights to build a writing, speaking, and consulting empire around my thought leadership.
- IP is a valuable business asset that can be collateralized for debt financing when it is potentially enforceable against high value assertion targets.
- Intellectual Property is a potentially valuable asset class to report to the board and entice equity investors.