Ip Management And Start Ups

Prof. A. B. Suraj Intellecture Seminar Series Bangalore – November 2009

Session Objectives 

To understand the “intangibility” of IPRs

 To

appreciate the value of protected IP in gaining competitive advantage

 To

gain an overview of the strategic elements towards better leverage of IP

IPRs – General Bases  Economic

(and technological) rationale – aids overall development

 Social

benefits – enriches the Public Domain and Basic Research

 Legal

monopoly – towards fair regulation within the territory

Forms of IPRs  Patents

– Patents Act, 1970

 Copyrights  Trade

– Copyright Act, 1957

Marks – Trade Marks Act, 1999

 Industrial

Designs – Designs Act, 2000

Forms of IPRs …  Layout

Designs of ICs

Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-

Design Act, 2000  Geographical Geographical

Indications

Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999

Forms of IPRs …  Plant

varieties – Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001

 Traditional

Knowledge – partly by Biological Diversity Act, 2002

 Trade

Secrets – Contractual – no legislation in India

The “Intangibles” 

Goodwill and reputation



Consumer perception/identification



Scientific and literary acclaim



Advertising reach



Traditional usage and “prominence” enjoyed



Media fame



One form of IPR leads to the other!

Pressures of Enforcement  IPRs

= fiercely competitive justifies criminal remedies too

 IPRs

usage;

and Global recognition

IPRs are territorial in nature No single authority or uniform standards National systems and interests continue to

preside

Principles of Traditional Management 

Organizing towards: Perfect replicability & standardization Ever-increasing scale Incremental process efficiency



Efficiency + Productivity = Growth



Role of IPRs – game-changer? RoI = Return on Innovations Maximizes interests; with minimal efforts

Intellectual assets Key Principles:  Visibility  Internal

and full exploitation

and external pursuit of IP protection

 Role

–

aggressive

of Intellectual assets in business alliances and joint ventures

Intellectual assets … Key Issues:  Identifying

the key geographical areas – for marketing and registration of IPRs

 Study

the level of innovative behaviour among the competitors; and suppliers

 Role

of building brand equity

Offshore Collaboration 

Typically of three types:

 Captive entity – wholly owned subsidiary – IP is

fully owned; but has other legal implications

 Joint venture – a new combined company – IP is

based on the Shareholding Agreement ○ BOT Model – involves transition risks

 Contracting - with a local Supplier – Enforcement

with due diligence – e.g., Confidentiality; Parentsubsidiary relations



Determining factors = cost, commitment, control, flexibility and liability models

IP issues in Contracting  Sharing

regime + sustained ownership

 Disparities  Identify,

in applicable laws & IP rights

define and processes and products

 Due

document

diligence & IP Valuation

–

IP issues … 

Enforcement – involves local issues too



Employer-employee relations – framework of trusteeship



Data protection and security



Dispute settlement enforcement

and

arbitral

Emerging issues 

Licensing in IPRs  Emerging trends in global supply chain  Minimum level of “reasonable control” – as evidenced in

Contracts and practices  Raises anti-trust and RTP claims as well 

Securitization of IPRs  Methods of valuation and their accuracy  Procedure of affirming “secured interest”



Liability of Service Providers in E-Commerce  Scope and content of “due diligence”  Increasing burden on the ISPs to be “IP-Police”

If we do not use IP …