International Trade

 

Protecting Your Intellectual Property in a Global Marketplace

By Jackie Maguire, CEO, Coller IP Management

The world may still be in the midst of a downturn, but that has not stopped the steady march of globalisation, and with it, the need to protect an organisation’s intellectual property across borders. Manufacturing is moving to emerging economies, where IP is key to value generation and economic growth and developing countries are recognising the importance of IP. The UK’s manufacturing base is also transferring to Asia, underlining the need for industry to ensure full protection of its ideas and inventions if it is not to lose out.

The need to protect IP applies both to newly-established companies as well as to more established ones, including those who are undergoing major changes. This is being understood more widely than it has been. Patent offices are getting busier, as the number of patents an organisation has is increasingly seen as a sign among investors of the value of a company.

80% of a company’s value is now in intangible assets and new financial rules are forcing companies to recognise this value on the balance sheet. There has been a surge in patent applications over the past decade. According to to the 2008 edition of the World Patent Report of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), increased patent filings in North East Asian countries (mainly China and the Republic of Korea and the United States of America (USA) drove growth in worldwide filing of patent applications, which topped 1.76 million in 2006, representing a 4.9% increase over 2005.

The report, based on 2006 figures (the last year for which complete worldwide statistics are available) also shows that patents granted worldwide increased by... continued on page two >

 

 

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