Discover and exploit the hidden values within your company’s current intangible assets, goods and services.
Companies that have established and/or growing intellectual property portfolios and intellectual property asset management (IAM) plans will achieve strong economic rewards without producing any additional goods or services. After establishing and quantifying the IP, via an IP audit, it is important that the company acknowledge the true value of IP by implementing a process of creation/innovation, protection, management and exploitation to extract the full value of the IP. A successful IAM plan will not only exploit the value of IP but will also assist many functions across a corporation including research and development (R&D), new and old product development, mergers and acquisition (M&A), licensing, funding, legal and information technology.
The goal of an IAM plan is to identify and exploit all of the IP and Intangible Assets in a company so that the company can compete in an economy where innovation drives the growth, the performance and strength and whereby the Intellectual Assets of the company are in full alliance with the strategy of the business: Reduce Costs and Increase Revenue. An IAM plan will help reduce costs by eliminating unnecessary costs associated with IP and increase revenue by seeking licensing, selling and donating opportunities.
What is an IAM Plan?
Simply stated an IAM plan is the development and execution of a roadmap towards a successful IP exploitation program. The plan utilizes the information and knowledge gained from an IP audit to create the roadmap. The road map has several steps and processes which include an IP royalty review and enforcement, policing and protecting IP, competitor and market analysis, actively seeking IP licensing and revenue generating activities and finally exploitation of the IP.
A successful IAM plan will involve establishing the appropriate processes to achieve the goals set out in the original scope analysis. Companies that incorporate and IAM plan are in a better position to establish an IP portfolio that can significantly increase the value of the company and increase the market value of the company.
The basic steps for an IAM plan include the following:
- - Conduct an IP audit
- - Identify the scope and goals of an IAM plan
- - Establish the current functionality of the IP portfolio
- • Audit all agreements (manufacturing, supplier, non-disclosure etc.) for IP compliance
- • Review royalty arrangements for costs v. benefit analysis
- • What is R & D working on?
- • Review how the company functions on a day-to-day basis
- - Research and evaluate the market strength and position of the IP
- - Determine the strategy required to increase the market strength and position
- • Analyze market trends and scope
- • License in v. license out
- • Selling v. donating v. licensing v. keeping IP
- - Execute the strategy and
- - Exploit the IP according the original scope
Benefits of an IAM Plan
An IAM plan brings structure and productivity to a company. Traditionally IP is looked as the cost center of a company, with increasing legal fees, maintenance fees, litigation etc. A successful IAM will remove the IP from the cost center and place it square in the middle of the company’s revenue stream. The end result → Companies realize that innovation equals increased revenue.