Intellectual Property

• Intellectual Property (IP)


  A set of legal rights granted to individuals or entities for their creations or inventions
• Forms of IP


  • Inventions
  • Literary & artistic works
  • Designs, symbols, names & images used in commerce
• Purpose of IP


  To protect the intangible assets and creations of the mind, providing creators and inventors with exclusive rights to their work
• Novelty


  • Essential in IP
  • Does not exist at the time of application for legal IP protection
  • If made public anywhere at any time, the creation with the same properties = "disclosure"
• Prior art search


  1. Prior art is any information (art) that may show that the perceived novelty in potential IP does not actually exist, where that information was publicly available prior to an application for legal protection of the potential IP

  2. Patent application review will analyse prior art but competitors may go to greater lengths to find information that invalidates a patent
• Determining ownership of IP


  • IP is an asset, its owner has legal rights to exploit its value, joint ownership is common
  • IP may be assigned to a new owner, by being sold or legally given away, or IP rights may be licensed, in which case ownership is unaltered
  • Identifying potential IP owners depends on defining the IP precisely
• People who are not necessarily creators but may have ownership claims

  • Researchers and assistants who directly helped the creator/s to develop, but not create, the IP
  • Authors of publications or conference presentations describing the IP
  • Inventors originally listed on patent applications that have since been significantly amended when examined for granting
• UoM IP policy


  • Duty to disclose IP to the University
  • University owns IP created by staff & graduate students (PhDs) with offer dates after 1 October 2023
  • As a student, you own any IP you solely create, unless it relates to teaching material or is created under a "contracted agreement"
• Types of IP


  • Registered: Patents, Trademarks
  • Non-registered: Copyright, Trade Secrets
• Patents


  • A legal document that grants an innovator the exclusive right to make, use, & sell an innovation for a specified number of years
  • Covers innovations in manipulating biological systems, organisms, or components
  • Typically 20 years in duration
  • Patent process: inventor discloses details in a patent application, which is then rigorously examined for novelty, non-obviousness, & usefulness
  • If granted, this exclusivity allows the patent holder to control use & commercialization of their innovation, giving them the opportunity to recoup investment made in R&D
• Copyright


  • Grants exclusive rights in the original expression of ideas and information in material form, e.g. written, drawn, performed, recorded
  • Copyright protection is automatic upon the creation of the work; it doesn't require formal registration. However, registering a work with the relevant copyright office can provide additional legal benefits in some jurisdictions, particularly when enforcing copyright in court
  • Copyright protection is not indefinite; it has a limited duration. The exact duration varies by country, but it typically lasts for the life of the creator plus a certain number of years (e.g., 70 years after the death of the creator). After the copyright expires, the work enters the public domain, and anyone can use, reproduce, and distribute it without seeking permission
• Copyright infringement


  • Occurs when someone uses, reproduces, distributes, displays, or creates derivative works from a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder
  • Consequences: the infringer is ordered to pay money to the copyright holder; amount is based on how much money they earned from the copyrighted work
  • Can I use copyrighted material if I acknowledge the source? No. This is still considered copyright infringement
• Fair dealing


  Typically allows for the use of copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder for specific purposes: Research & private study, Criticism or review, News reporting, Education, Parody
• Trademarks


  • Legal protections for distinctive symbols, names, phrases, logos, or any combination of these elements that uniquely identify and distinguish goods or services of one entity from those of others
  • Key aspects: Distinctiveness, Can last indefinitely, Registering a trademark with the relevant intellectual property office enhances legal rights and provides additional benefits
• Trade Secrets


  • Confidential business information that provides a competitive advantage to a company because it is not generally known to the public or to competitors
  • Unlike patents, trademarks, or copyrights, which involve government registration and public disclosure, trade secrets rely on the company's efforts to keep the information confidential
  • Trade secret protection often relies on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and other contractual measures to maintain confidentiality
• Advantages vs Disadvantages of trade secret


  • No information provided
• When is a trade secret a good protection?

  • Commercialisation conducted in-house by the same organisation that developed the IP
  • IP with small or indeterminate value that does not justify the cost of legal IP protection, e.g. mobile phone apps & other software algorithms, often developed by undergraduate students
  • IP with a short useful lifetime because its field of use is evolving rapidly
• Types of valuable assets for a business

  • Tangible (Physical object)
  • Intangible assets (not physical) = intellectual capital, Intellectual property
• Role of intellectual assets in business

  • Competitive advantage
  • Enhance brand recognition
  • Customer loyalty
  • Market positioning
  • Means of driving capital investment
  • Trading asset with competitors
  • Business valuation
  • Investment decisions
• The creation of IP requires investment in terms of money, time and intellect
• Along with having a business plan, every innovative company should have an intellectual property (IP) strategy
• Developing an IP strategy is not a one-time event. An IP strategy will evolve with a company's business goals and should be reviewed regularly
• How to extract value from your IP

  • Makes company attractive to investors
  • Can help guide your commercial strategy
• Developing an IP strategy

  1. Understand business objectives and what role IP plays

  2. You must be free of legal barriers and encumbrance (i.e. understand the risk)

  3. You must understand the ROI equation

  4. You must understand your market

  5. Make a plan and nimbly execute
• Steps to developing an IP strategy

  1. Identify & assess your IP who owns it? perform a prior art search

  2. Protect your IP register IP rights – trade secrets, copyrights, patents, trademarks

  3. Commercialise your IP licensing

  4. Enforce your IP