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Intellectual Property (IP) is a form of property - protected in law - which is derived from the mind. The term usually refers to patent, copyright, trademarks, trade secrets, proprietary technology and know-how. Intellectual property law may vary from country to country.

A Patent is a property right, which is granted by the state to its inventor. The right is exclusive, which means that the owner has a monopoly for a period of time and the right to exclude others from making, copying or selling the invention. In order for a patent to be granted, the invention must be disclosed or put into the public domain. The advantage of this is that it provides a "Keep Off" sign on the invention. The disadvantage of publication is that it is no longer a secret.

Ownership of a patent can be very valuable, but only if the owner is active. It should be noted that a patent is a right and the owner has to assert that right. If the owner does not assert his rights, others will infringe his rights with impunity. With new products, organizations sometimes choose to protect the project with multiple patents, one for each component or part - referred to as a thicket. For example, the Kodak Instamatic Camera was protected by a thicket of patents consisting of more than a hundred individual filings making the product very difficult for Kodak's competitors to copy.

Should a company choose to license its invention to other companies, revenue generated from the licensing agreement is a market asset. In order to have value, a patent must be exploited and defended. Organizations which don't pursue infringement of their patents are not only leaving money on the table from uncollected royalties, they are also devaluing their own intellectual property asset. Cynics would say that a patent is only as valuable as the amount of money its owner is prepared to spend defending it. To some extent, this is true, as evidenced by the huge amounts of money spent on protecting valuable patents. A patent for its own sake has no point or value.

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* Contributed by: -
Dr. R. P. Verma,
Ex. H.O.D. & Dean, Commerce and Business Management Dept.,
Arabinda Bhandari,
Strategic Management Researcher,
Ranchi University, Ranchi.