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Intellectual Property Law

MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AS A STRATEGIC ASSET PART 2: Look for Treasures in Your Company

By admin | October 27th, 2008 | Category: Intellectual Property Law | No Comments »

By David Oh
Intellectual Property Consultant and Director
Mindvault Sdn Bhd

This is the second in a four-part series published on 7 July 2003 in the Netv@lue2.0 pullout of The Edge, Malaysia’s leading Business & Investment Weekly.
 
Hidden treasure worth US$100 million discovered!
 
You might be wondering which lucky guy armed with a metal detector and shovel this headline is referring to. Actually, it is referring to The Dow Chemical Company, a Fortune 500 company.
 
In 1992, Dow Chemical conducted a “treasure hunt” which uncovered intellectual assets that eventually produced more than US$100 million in licensing revenues for the company. Furthermore, strategic decisions undertaken by the company’s management led to additional savings of more than US$50 million in taxes and fees.i

 

Buried Treasure

Many companies have treasure buried within the crevices of their business that are yet to be discovered. This buried treasure is the company’s intellectual property (IP) or intellectual assets, as it is often referred to today.
 
In Malaysia, there are five major categories of IP rights:
  • Trademarks/brands;
  • Copyright;
  • Patents/inventions;
  • Industrial designs; and
  • Trade secrets/confidential information
There are also other IP rights such as geographical indications and layout designs of integrated circuits.
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MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AS A STRATEGIC ASSET - PART 1: Breaking the Legal Paradigm

By admin | August 12th, 2008 | Category: Intellectual Property Law, Lawyers' Articles | No Comments »

By David Oh
Intellectual Property Consultant and Director
Mindvault Sdn Bhd

This is the first in a four-part series published on 30 June 2003 in the Netv@lue2.0 pullout of The Edge, Malaysia’s leading Business & Investment Weekly.

Would you like to earn US$35 million in a single day? Could your company do with a multi-million dollar cash injection?

This is what happened to MercExchange LLC on May 27 when a US Federal Jury ordered online auction giant eBay to pay US$35 million in damages for the infringement of two patents held by MercExchangei.

Who is MercExchange? Is it a manufacturing company? Does it own plant and machinery? Does it have a large workforce?

MercExchangeii is a company owned by Thomas Woolston, an inventor and patent attorney, whose main source of income is derived from the licensing of patents owned by Woolston.

MercExchange does not sell any tangible products, it does not own any distribution channels nor does it have many employees and yet, it is now US$35 million richer. Welcome to the knowledge economy.

The New Economy
The advent of globalisation and the k-economy has changed the playing field, bringing with it a new set of rules and perspectives.

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