Intellectual Property and Patent & Trade Mark Protection

Frequently, the terms intellectual property (IP) risk appetite, IP risk tolerance and IP risk threshold are used interchangeably, although they represent related, but different concepts.

This paper hopefully explains each.

The purpose of this new short paper of mine is to 'join the dots' between a director's fiduciary duties and especially a person holding dual or multiple directorships and trade secrets.

Given the growing importance of corporate governance as well as the increasing value of trade secrets within organizations, I trust that you find this short paper of interest and of value.

Any and all feedback is most welcome.

Having conducted a number of trade secret portfolio reviews across a diverse range of organisations, I thought to share some key insights.

In almost all cases, all of the trade secrets within an organisation do not all legally belong to that company. Some of the trade secrets within an organisation belong to someone else and have merely been entrusted to that organisation. This is especially true for organisations that have embraced collaborative or open forms of innovation.

In almost all cases, a percentage of the trade secrets that do legally belong to the organisation have been shared with one or more external entities. Not all trade secrets are hidden away and never shared outside of the organisation.

Do you know the profile of your organisation's trade secret portfolio in terms of legal ownership and/or shared or not?

The percentages in the attached graphic are taken from a recent trade secret audit conducted for a company in the food and beverage sector, with the data pulled from the Hazel Trade Secret Asset Management Solution.

Insurance is an arrangement by an entity that undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for specified loss or damage in return for payment of a specified premium.

Insurance helps you protect yourself against risks like a house fire, car accident or burglary.

Do you know that there are entities that now provide insurance for trade secrets?

Given that trade secrets may be some of the most valuable assets an organisation possesses, perhaps trade secret insurance should be considered as part of a company’s trade secret asset management activities.

Given that there are some very interesting developments taking place in this specific area, I thought to re-post a short paper of mine.