Intellectual Property ...
Alicia Gallagher
"I recommend
that every business conduct an IP inventory..."
Time
and time again, I meet up with some amazingly innovative
Australian businesses. They are bursting with creative ideas,
flexible and opportunistic in the best sense of the word.
These operators actually define the competitive edge with
their new products and services.
The truly unique class in the innovation stakes has also
become Intellectual Property (IP) savvy. They maximise their
IP not by understanding the present, but planning for the
future. Their success is proactive, not accidental.
An intellectual property inventory, combined with a sound
commercial strategy, is one of the main IP tools that any
business can use right now. The level of detail depends
on how much intellectual property your business owns and
how it affects your operation.
Designing women
Contours Exclusive Ladies Health & Fitness Studios, one
of Australia's fastest growing franchises, has shaken up
the fitness industry by creating women-only health and fitness
centres. It's a terrific example of targeting and catering
to a niche market. Their trade mark, registered with the
Trade Marks Office, is critical to their marketing and forms
the foundation for potential entry into other aspects of
the industry.
"Our
logo is our public face and appeals to our special market.
It's on all of our promotional and in-house materials. We
worked to create a branding effect with this logo so that
women will identify with us before others," says Australian
franchise manager Sue Edser.
For the Contours team, knowledge of trade marks and how
to capitalise on their power is linked to their ongoing
success.
If you apply the most basic IP inventory to Contours with
"category", "protection" and "territory" as the main headings,
their first line entry would have their logo under the first
heading, registered trade mark under the second and Australia
and New Zealand under the third.
Whenever trade marks are part of an IP inventory (whether
registered or not), a fourth column Ð "classes" Ð needs
to be added to include each of the 42 classes in which a
trade mark has been or could be registered.
Every little bit counts
I recommend that every business conduct an IP inventory.
Filling in the "category" column is usually the most difficult
part of the exercise because business operators tend to
overlook a large amount of IP.
Begin with the name on the front door and include everything
that is original and essential to the enterprise, for example,
business names and logos, new products and processes, promotional
materials, inventive packaging, swing tickets, original
software and concept renderings.
Some inventories will only need a handful of headings. Others
will need six. Some will have one- or two-line entries.
Others will have a dozen or more.
Product-oriented businesses need to understand the entire
portfolio of intellectual property protection in both formal
and automatic rights. Their IP inventory will be much more
complex and strongly interactive with their commercial strategy.
The registered trade mark, patent and design registration
are each formal rights because they are applied for and
granted through the Australian Industrial Property Organisation
(AIPO), the federal body which incorporates the Trade Marks,
Patents and Designs Offices. Plant breeders' rights are
also a formal right but are applied for through the Federal
Department of Primary Industries and Energy.
Copyright, trade secrets and circuit layout rights are automatic
rights. Non-registered trade marks are also an automatic
right which a business can assign to itself. However, a
registered trade mark provides a formal marketplace monopoly
and is considered more valuable.
Critical dates
There are a number of critical dates associated with the
granting and maintaining of formal rights. No inventory
is complete without a "critical dates" column, even though
your patent attorney will monitor these dates on your behalf
and notify you if action is needed. However, as the action
often involves the payment of fees, these critical dates
become important to forward planning. Without prior knowledge,
you and your budget could be caught out.
A terrific starting point for learning more about IP (and
the fees associated with it) is through the AIPO home page:
http:/www.aipo.gov.au/ or their free publication Intellectual
Property Ð Don't Give Away Your Most Valuable Asset available
from AIPO state office (see your local White Pages).
Source: Alicia Gallagher,
an intellectual property specialist writer, consultant,
small business person and award-winning product designer.
