July 2003

PetrashWilliamson Newsletter

Intellectual Property Asset Management Best Practices

www.ipamBestPractices.com

Aligning IP with Business Metrics

July 2003

Volume 1

White Papers

Lighthouse

Intellectual Property Portal

Develop your IP intranet to enhance business understanding and improve visibility of information.

630-416-7459

Question of the Week

DOES YOUR BUSINESS UNDERSTAND AND SUPPORT YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY EFFORTS?

In an intellectual property best practices study of over 60 companies, 70% stated that the business does not understand intellectual property. If your business people do not understand intellectual property, what are you doing to improve their understanding?

If you take no action, the business will continue to challenge the IP function and question the IP budget and spending.

What do you think the implications are of no action? What are your next steps to improve the business understanding?

Dear Intellectual Property Professional,

PetrashWilliamson is establishing this communications vehicle to open a dialogue with Intellectual Property professionals. We will be introducing a variety of topics based on intellectual property current events and feedback. This week we are introducing the first in a series of PetrashWilliamson's top ten intellectual asset trends. Also, we have a section on key challenges for IP professionals. My experience is that most organizations have at least 3 of the stated challenges. I am interested in your feedback.

Robert Williamson

TOP 13 CHALLENGES FOR IP TEAMS

1. Excessive reporting requirements

2. Business people do not understand Intellectual Property

3. Delusional Management

4. Extensive reporting requirements

5. Lack of definition & context

6. Ad hoc processes

7. Determining where to start

8. No consistent process

9. Inefficient & costly

10. Functional silos

11. Under leveraged portfolio

12. Lack of alignment with business strategy

13. Difficult to develop metrics

CLICK HERE TO TELL US IF YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE

Top Ten Intangible Asset Driven Business Trends

#1 High tech Intangible Asset (IA) issues and strategies will be leading indicators for the traditional manufacturers (brick and mortar) world

· Have been and will continue to be a window into the future IA landscape for all other industries and products

· Copyrights and digital rights

· High employee turnover

· Global enforcement of IP rights

· Patent Standards & Pooling

· Litigation

· Licensing & collaboration

· Shorter product life cycles

· Consumer products can learn from current high tech issues and responses…moral: don’t look to lead your industry, it’s not enough.

· Competition and consumer demand - driving the need for more, better, cheaper, “now”

· Trade agreements involving Intellectual Property (IP)

· NAFTA, GATT, World Bank, law enforcement

Implications

· Traditional companies will be strained to deal with the more dynamic and fast paced business environment, requiring them to develop systems and processes for Intellectual Asset Management that are flexible, more cost effective, and more reliable.

CLICK HERE TO E-MAIL COMMENTS (AGREE/DISAGREE) OR SUGGESTION

GORDON PETRASH BACKGROUND

Gordon Petrash is one of the world’s foremost authorities on intellectual asset management. Prior to forming PetrashWilliamson, Petrash was the Chief IP Strategist at Delphion Inc.. Preceding Delphion, Petrash was a partner in the IAM practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. There, he led the development and implementation of IAM processes and systems for Fortune 100 companies across a broad spectrum of industries.

Previously, Petrash was Dow Chemical’s first global director of intellectual asset and capital management. He built and led a global organization that increased Dow’s intellectual property licensing revenue to $125 million from $25 million, and reduced intellectual property maintenance costs by $50 million.

An IAM visionary whose work has been cited by numerous books, journals and studies, Petrash has created and conducted IAM workshops and symposiums for organizations such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Brookings Institute, Institute for International Research, Hoover Institution, M.I.T. and the Licensing Executives Society. He is also one of the founders of the Intellectual Capital Gathering.

FUTURE TOPICS

Patent Maps and Trees: Look at your patents visually to evaluate categories and how technology has developed over time.

Valuation: Develop a consistent process to do internal valuations.

Portfolio Inventory: Organizing and Classifying your Portfolio.

Benchmarking: Evaluate outside company practices. The practice would result in: productivity gain, financial gain, risk reduction, and other gains.

Metrics: Identify the appropriate metrics for your IP scorecard. Drive performance improvements.

CLICK HERE TO TELL US YOUR SUGGESTED TOPICS

T H E IPAM BEST PRACTICES S E M I N A R S E R I E S

Contact us today to learn about our Intellectual Property management forums.

Metrics for Measuring Return on Intellectual Property Investments

Benchmarking

Forming Portfolio Management Teams

Developing an Intellectual Property Strategy

If you do not wish to receive e-mail communications from PetrashWilliamson, please reply to this message with the word "Remove" in the subject line.

Comments or Questions? Write to us at PetrashWilliamson@IPAMBestPractices.com

www.IPAMBestPractices.com

Compass

IPAM Best Practice Library

"A Consultant in a Box"

Over 350 documents

Over 30 topics

630-416-7459

Do you have your IP Portfolio organized by Usage and Importance?

Contact us today and learn how to leverage your docketing system to provide business people with business relevant reports.

630-416-7459