Building an IP Strategy (2)
Costs & Revenues
- “IP is seen as an in-house cost centre because you have to spend money to register and
protect it, whereas there is argument to see it as a profit centre.”
o IP is generally seen as a cost centre rather than a revenue generator
- Cost Centre – A department within an organisation that does not directly add to profit but
still costs the organisation money to operate (Investopedia.com)
o A cost centre indirectly contributes to a company’s profit via operational
excellence, customer service, and enhanced product value.
- Profit Centre – A branch or division of a company that directly adds or is expected to
add to the entire organisation’s bottom line (Investopedia.com)
o Profit centres are crucial to determining which units are the most and the least
profitable within an organization. They function by differentiating between certain
revenue-generating activities.
Transformation:
To successfully transform cost centres into profit centres, companies should focus on the
following priorities:
1) Identify opportunities for improvement:
o Companies should continuously identify opportunities to improve their processes,
such as reducing waste, streamlining workflows, and automating tasks.
2) Document best practices:
o Once improvements have been implemented, companies should carefully document
the new procedures and processes. This documentation serves as a valuable
reference for future improvement initiatives and can be used to train new
employees.
3) Protect IP:
o Companies should take steps to protect their process IP, such as patenting, trade
secreting, or trademarking their innovations.
o If not protected, difficult to monetise it
o Protect through enforcement to avoid any infringement – may include up-front costs
e.g. with design rights ~ essential to invest with these initial costs
4) Market IP:
o Companies should actively market their process IP to potential licensees or
partners.
o Where are customers? Competition? Value proposition in relation to that IP?
- (Visibility, 2023)
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/transforming-cost-centres-profit-power-process-
improvement-4vgbf/?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-article-content
- Similar to week 2 learning – innovation capture
Routes to Commercialisation:
- Identify how/where the IP strategy aligns with and benefits the general business strategy
over the short to medium term
- Identify if and where the IP could be enhanced to support income/funding
- Identify if there is any other use for the IP to generate income/funding
, - Identify potential weaknesses and threats which might impact on the value of the IP and IP
strategy in the context of the short to medium term business plan
- Identify suitable options for exploiting the business’s IP, again to fit with the overall
business plan, e.g. by licensing and/or enforcing and/or using the IP to attract and
reassure investors and business partners (Gov.uk, 2015).
- Identify threats to IP? Is it going to expire soon? Is renewal beneficial at this point in time?
Stage 3: IP Protection
1) IP protection strategy
o Has the right protection strategy been identified?
o i.e. patents, trade secrets, design, trademark, open source, plant breeder’s rights,
copyright IP
2) Prioritisation of IP protection
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures for prioritising IP protection?
o i.e. the order in which IP rights and protection are prioritised
3) Technology landscaping
o Does the business conduct IP searchers and/or technology landscape studies for
patent, design, trademark, plant breeders’ rights searchers conducted before
seeking protection?
4) IP strategy development
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures for developing an IP strategy
including market, cost or timing consideration?
5) Monitoring ownership
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures for monitoring inventorship,
authorship and ownership considerations?
6) Non-registerable IP protection
o Does the business have process and/or procedures for protecting non-registrable
forms of IP know-how, trade secrets, goodwill etc.
7) Intellectual property advice
o Is advice sought from IP professionals before seeking IP protection?
8) IP strategy alignment
o Is the IP strategy aligned with the commercialisation strategy?
- WIPO (2024)
Stage 4: IP Commercialisation
1) Commercialisation vehicle
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures to identify the appropriate
commercialisation vehicle?
o Manufacture, sale, license etc.
2) IP asset valuation
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures valuation of IP assets,
especially for those to be licensed as part of business model/ pricing strategy for
products?
o E.g. claim charting vis-à-vis competitor products/ services
o Helps you identify if you have money you can leverage from somewhere else for
your product
3) Freedom to operate
o Has a freedom to operate search been conducted to determine the potential to
infringe third party rights?
o Find out if you have the freedom to produce within a sector without infringing on
someone’s IP rights
4) Competition monitoring
Costs & Revenues
- “IP is seen as an in-house cost centre because you have to spend money to register and
protect it, whereas there is argument to see it as a profit centre.”
o IP is generally seen as a cost centre rather than a revenue generator
- Cost Centre – A department within an organisation that does not directly add to profit but
still costs the organisation money to operate (Investopedia.com)
o A cost centre indirectly contributes to a company’s profit via operational
excellence, customer service, and enhanced product value.
- Profit Centre – A branch or division of a company that directly adds or is expected to
add to the entire organisation’s bottom line (Investopedia.com)
o Profit centres are crucial to determining which units are the most and the least
profitable within an organization. They function by differentiating between certain
revenue-generating activities.
Transformation:
To successfully transform cost centres into profit centres, companies should focus on the
following priorities:
1) Identify opportunities for improvement:
o Companies should continuously identify opportunities to improve their processes,
such as reducing waste, streamlining workflows, and automating tasks.
2) Document best practices:
o Once improvements have been implemented, companies should carefully document
the new procedures and processes. This documentation serves as a valuable
reference for future improvement initiatives and can be used to train new
employees.
3) Protect IP:
o Companies should take steps to protect their process IP, such as patenting, trade
secreting, or trademarking their innovations.
o If not protected, difficult to monetise it
o Protect through enforcement to avoid any infringement – may include up-front costs
e.g. with design rights ~ essential to invest with these initial costs
4) Market IP:
o Companies should actively market their process IP to potential licensees or
partners.
o Where are customers? Competition? Value proposition in relation to that IP?
- (Visibility, 2023)
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/transforming-cost-centres-profit-power-process-
improvement-4vgbf/?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-article-content
- Similar to week 2 learning – innovation capture
Routes to Commercialisation:
- Identify how/where the IP strategy aligns with and benefits the general business strategy
over the short to medium term
- Identify if and where the IP could be enhanced to support income/funding
- Identify if there is any other use for the IP to generate income/funding
, - Identify potential weaknesses and threats which might impact on the value of the IP and IP
strategy in the context of the short to medium term business plan
- Identify suitable options for exploiting the business’s IP, again to fit with the overall
business plan, e.g. by licensing and/or enforcing and/or using the IP to attract and
reassure investors and business partners (Gov.uk, 2015).
- Identify threats to IP? Is it going to expire soon? Is renewal beneficial at this point in time?
Stage 3: IP Protection
1) IP protection strategy
o Has the right protection strategy been identified?
o i.e. patents, trade secrets, design, trademark, open source, plant breeder’s rights,
copyright IP
2) Prioritisation of IP protection
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures for prioritising IP protection?
o i.e. the order in which IP rights and protection are prioritised
3) Technology landscaping
o Does the business conduct IP searchers and/or technology landscape studies for
patent, design, trademark, plant breeders’ rights searchers conducted before
seeking protection?
4) IP strategy development
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures for developing an IP strategy
including market, cost or timing consideration?
5) Monitoring ownership
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures for monitoring inventorship,
authorship and ownership considerations?
6) Non-registerable IP protection
o Does the business have process and/or procedures for protecting non-registrable
forms of IP know-how, trade secrets, goodwill etc.
7) Intellectual property advice
o Is advice sought from IP professionals before seeking IP protection?
8) IP strategy alignment
o Is the IP strategy aligned with the commercialisation strategy?
- WIPO (2024)
Stage 4: IP Commercialisation
1) Commercialisation vehicle
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures to identify the appropriate
commercialisation vehicle?
o Manufacture, sale, license etc.
2) IP asset valuation
o Does the business have processes and/or procedures valuation of IP assets,
especially for those to be licensed as part of business model/ pricing strategy for
products?
o E.g. claim charting vis-à-vis competitor products/ services
o Helps you identify if you have money you can leverage from somewhere else for
your product
3) Freedom to operate
o Has a freedom to operate search been conducted to determine the potential to
infringe third party rights?
o Find out if you have the freedom to produce within a sector without infringing on
someone’s IP rights
4) Competition monitoring
