IAM Issue 8

Recent court decisions have forced
Japanese companies to look closely at
how they reward employees whose
inventions lead to successful products.
Businesses in other parts of the world
would be well advised to do the same.

Trademark and copyright owners will not be successful
in fighting counterfeiting and piracy merely by talking to
governments and enforcement authorities. They also need
to engage with the public. But, when they do, they have
to be careful

Extensive IP due diligence is a
necessity, not an expensive luxury,
when considering whether to invest in
a company. The trick is to know what
you should be looking for

The term patent trolling is frequently
used pejoratively by IP owners that
invest heavily in R&D to create their
rights. But what, in fact, are IP
asserters doing wrong?

The biotechnology and agriculture
sectors in Canada have welcomed
a recent decision that will make it
easier to obtain patents on the
modified genes and cells of plants
and animals in vivo and to enforce
patent rights in whole plants and
animals

If intellectual properties are seen
as the jewels of the knowledge
economy, should IP managers
behave like jewellers?

The due diligence process is a notoriously time-consuming and frustrating
process but a necessary one for any company undertaking a transaction,
whether fund raising, an acquisition or an IPO. By Morag Macdonald and
Nicola Maguire

An organisation has been launched that aims to redress what its founder
believes is a one-way argument about intellectual property rights in Europe.
Those with an anti-IP agenda are doing all the running, he claims, and
European companies will suffer as a result. By Isla Grant

Patent marketing is an increasingly powerful commercial tool that is used by
companies working in a variety of economic sectors. By Rolf Rings

Not every company is in a position to practise classical carrot and stick style
licensing. But that does not mean that licensing is not an option for every
business, regardless of the intangible assets it owns. By Lesley Craig, Esq and
Dr Lindsay Moore