Neuron Intellectual Property Management Brochure

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intangible asset management including intellectual property

This document is the proprietary and exclusive property of Australis Comm (Pty) Limited (“Australis®”), except as otherwise indicated. No part of this document, in whole or in part, may be reproduced, stored, transmitted, or used for design purposes without the prior written permission of Australis Comm (Pty) Limited.

While Australis® has no reason to believe that there are any errors or omissions in the information contained in this document, Australis does not represent or warrant that the document is free from error, and does not assume, and expressly disclaims, any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the document, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.

© 2010 Australis Comm (Pty) Limited 01

disclaimers®

table of contents

Disclaimers

Introduction

What is Intellectual Property?

Importance of Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property Management

Levels of Intellectual Property Management

Professional Services

Australis® Value Offering

Software Solutions

Neuron® Intangible Asset Management Solution

Neuron® Toolkits

Neuron® Technical Information

Contact Us

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introduction

Australis® Comm (Pty) Limited is a specialist Intangible Asset Management (IAM) company founded in 1998.

Australis® specialises in providing both consulting in the specialist area of Intangible Assets including Intellectual Property (IP) and the provision of software solutions for the management of Intangible Assets, throughout the entire lifecycle from ideas management to product and the subsequent commercialisation thereof thereafter, under its Neuron® brand.

Most companies are undervalued due to the fact that their Intangible Assets have not been properly considered and valued. Australis® together with its associates endeavour to increase the value of organisations through the identification, management and reporting on Intangible Assets. The result-ing increase in value benefits the organisation, especially during mergers and acquisitions, licensing or the sale of Intangible Assets etc. Furthermore, ensuring an organisation’s compliance with Primary and Secondary Intellectual Property legislation as well as compliance with International Accounting Stan-dards and International Financial Reporting Standards contributes to improved corporate governance and enterprise risk mitigation.

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Australis® currently assists medium to large private sector and public sector organisations

with the management of their Intangible Assets including Intellectual Property both nationally

and internationally.

what is intellectual property?

There are many practical aspects of a business that can be protected, including but not limited to any property that is derived from the work of the mind of intellect; specifically an idea, invention, trade secret, process, program, data, formula, patent, copyright, or trade mark or application, right, or registration relating thereto.

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importance of intellectual property

Intellectual Property, whether registered or not, are valuable assets for your business – possibly among the most important it possesses.

In the competitive world market the winners are those corporations which hold a competitive advantage and one mechanism through which such an advantage can be gained and sustained is through the generation and protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

In addition to setting you apart from your competitors, IP helps in:

• Offering customers something new and different;• Preventing competitors from copying or closely imitating a company’s products or services;• Avoiding wasteful investment in research and development (R&D) and marketing as a result of the previous point;• Creating a corporate identity through a trade mark and branding strategy;• Negotiating licensing, franchising or other IP-based contractual agreements which provides an important revenue stream;• Increasing the market value of the company;• Acquiring venture capital and enhancing access to finance; and• Obtaining access to new markets.

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© 2010 Australis Comm (Pty) Limited

intellectual property management

Effective IP management enables companies to use their IP assets to improve their competitiveness and strategic advantage and also provides enhanced corporate value.

Acquiring IP protection is a crucial initial step, but effective IP management means more than just protecting an enterprise’s inventions, trade marks, designs, or copyright. It also involves a company’s ability to commercialize such inventions, market its brands, license its know-how, conclude joint ventures and other contractual agreements involving IP, and effectively monitor and enforce its Intellectual Property rights. Indeed, a company’s portfolio of IP must be viewed as a collection of key assets that add significant value to the enterprise.

Organisations can also benefit from the wealth of technological and commercial information available in patent and trademark databases to learn about recent technological breakthroughs, identify future partners, and find out about the innovative activities of competitors. Managing IP effectively and using it to devise business strategies is an increasingly critical task for management worldwide.

Increased global competition has driven the need for collaboration and partnering between organisations internationally in order to achieve success. To ensure that collaborative efforts are co-ordinated and managed successfully, cost effective uniform systems and interfaces are required that can be accessed both centrally and remotely by all stakeholders.

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Knowledge organisations are increasingly becoming aware of the need to manage their Intangible Assets in order to ensure sustainable competitiveness and market growth.

High levels of competition and rigorous compliance internationally coupled with the shortening of product and market life cycles are placing pressure on organisations to

ensure quicker product delivery and profit.

levels of intellectual property management

There are 5 levels of Intellectual Property management that can be deployed within organisations and the extent of the organisation’s level of maturity determines which level of management they employ.

Intellectual Property Management is generally initiated within organisations as a result of them wanting to protect their product and/ or technology through the registration of some form of registered Intellectual Property such as a patent, trade mark or design etc.

As organisations mature in the area of IP Management they begin to proceed to look at cost control measures to ensure a good cost benefit ratio. During this phase the organisation will analyse their IP Portfolio to determine whether any of its IP should be continued or withdrawn based on its cost implications and strategic value.

The next level of IP Management involves the acknowledgement and understanding that IP is valuable and that it can be utilised as an important revenue generator. Here, the focus of the company is around entering into license agreements and other relationships that will generate income from the IP of the organisation.

The next level of IP Management is the integration of IP into the objectives and strategy of the organisation. In this situation, the organisation understands that IP creates a differential advantage for the company and that IP should be developed in support of the company’s objectives and strategies. The final level of IP Management involves the company viewing IP as an integral part of the vision and direction of the company. Here IP is seen as the life blood of the organisation, ensuring its survival and success in an ever increasing competitive global community.

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IP Maturity Level

professional services®

To fully understand the consulting services offered by Australis® one has to look at the Intangible Asset Management lifecycle, which commences with the management and assessment of ideas to the establishment and management of projects and the development, protection and commercialisation of products, services and technologies thereafter.

The management of an organisation’s Intellectual Property therefore can involve different consulting disciplines, which include but are not limited to business analysts, software architects and engineers, researchers, Intellectual Property attorneys, auditors and ultimately commercial experts involved in licensing and other commercial activities.

The role of Australis® is to provide clients with a single interface that professionally and effectively manages all aspects of the organisation’s Intangible Assets, including IP throughout the Intangible Asset Life cycle.

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Australis® together with its associates, where applicable, provide the following related services through-out the Intangible Asset Lifecycle:

Ideas Management

• Establishing structures so that the right people evaluate ideas; • Implementation of processes and procedures to evaluate ideas; • Evaluation of ideas to ensure that only the best ideas are implemented; • Market analysis and competitive intelligence; and • Intellectual Property landscape analysis.

IP related activities involved in Research and Development

• Intellectual Property landscape analysis (Identifying what patents exist in the same or similar R&D field); • Market and industry analysis to identify market demand for the R&D outcome and potential markets, partners, licencees and IP acquirers; • Competitive intelligence to identify competitors and their R&D initiatives; • Development of agreements (R&D agreements, employment agreements, non disclosure agreements and third party consulting agreements etc.); • Risk management within projects (HR, Information, Strategy etc.); • Analysis of projects (Strategic alignment and value, outcomes etc.); • Management and protection of research results (Controlled access to information and documents, including Inventor Notebooks); • Registration of IP (Patents, designs, trade marks, plant breeder rights etc.); • Disclosure of inventions not requiring protection within applicable journals (Preventing competitors from patenting existing R&D outcomes); • Assistance with the publication of research results; and • Compliance with primary and secondary IP legislation.

australis® value offering a

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Effective IP Management is critical to an organisation’s success

Transforming assets fromintellect to business

professional services®

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IP related activities involved in Commercialisation:

• Intellectual Property landscape analysis, market and industry analysis and competitive intelligence to identify markets, potential licensees, partners or IP acquirers etc.; • Commercialisation strategy development; • Technology transfer and commercialisation activities; • Development of agreements (License agreements, franchise agreements, distribution agreements and sale agreements etc.); • Valuation of IP (Maximising IP value) • Licensing (in and out licensing) and royalty management; • Sale of IP; • Securitisation of IP (Accessing funding by means of the value of your IP); • Mergers and Acquisitions (Identifying the IP of the company and its values); • Compliance with primary and secondary IP legislation; and • International structuring and taxation (Identifying the best corporate and tax effective vehicle to house your IP).

Ongoing IP management activities:

• IP audits (Identification of existing Intellectual Property); • Assessment of current uses of Intellectual Property to determine licensing opportunities etc.; • Ongoing IP portfolio management • Intellectual Property analysis (Identifying whether to keep, drop or develop the company’s IP); • Market and Industry analysis; • Competitive Intelligence; • Risk management; and • IP registration and maintenance; • Primary Intellectual Property legislation compliance; and • Secondary Intellectual Property legislation compliance. • IP Strategy development aligned with business objectives and strategies (Defensive/ Offensive); • Development of IP policies and procedures; • IP training (Building IP competency and awareness); • Due diligence investigations; • IP acquisition; • Tracking and managing IP litigation; • Accounting, Reporting & Tax Strategies; • Tracking of IP income and expenditure; • Tax benefit recovery interventions (i.e. R&D incentives); • International Accounting Standards compliance; • International Financial Reporting Standards compliance; and • Other international legislation compliance such as Sarbanes-Oxley which ensures good corporate governance.

australis® value offering continued...

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Your organisation is most likely undervalued

software solutions

intangible asset management solution

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Neuron® is a web based and smart client enterprise business software platform which has specifically been developed to manage Intangible Assets, including Intellectual Property, within medium to large organisations both locally and internationally. The value of Neuron is fully realised when combined with the consulting services provided by Australis®.

The Neuron® Intangible Asset Management (IAM) System manages and analyses relevant information and documentation and reports on the entire Intangible Asset including Intellectual Property lifecycle from ideas to product and its subsequent commercialisation and compliance with Primary and Secondary Intellectual Property legislation and other international legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley, etc.

Neuron® automates and streamlines common IP management functions and helps to safeguard Intellectual Property assets and make better decisions about those assets thereby deriving maximum value from your Intellectual Property portfolio.

Neuron® manages Intangible Assets, including Intellectual Property which include, but is not limited to, components such as research and development, projects, agreements, trade secrets, know how, third party confidential information, competitive information, litigation, client lists and documents, etc. Neuron® also manages Intellectual Property such as patents, trade marks, designs, domain names and plant breeders’ rights etc. In addition to the above, the system also manages other related matters which impact on Intangible Assets and enterprise risk such as inventors, applicants, employees, third parties and policies and procedures.

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intangible asset management solution

Neuron® tracks expenditure on research and development, asset acquisition and expenditure relating to the development and protection of registered Intellectual Property, etc as well as income derived from licensing and royalty fees. This capability allows Australis® to realise tangible financial benefits for organisations through lucrative tax incentives and also ensures compliance with local and international legislation and regulations such as the International Accounting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards, etc. which deals with Intangible Asset reporting.

Neuron® provides a 360˚ view of the organisations Intangible Assets including Intellectual Property, thereby enabling easy management and identification of issues requiring action.

The Neuron® platform typically includes 14 core modules which, when combined, produces tangible organisational value, improved risk management, corporate governance and the elimination of constraints impacting the acquisition, protection and maintenance and commercialisation of an organisation’s Intangible Assets.

The modules are as follows:

• Information Management Module; • Document Management Module; • Messaging Module; • Reminders Module; • Reporting Module; • Administration Module; • 360° Relationship Linking Module; • Analysis Module; • Strategy Module; • Risk and Compliance Module; • Training Module; • Decision Module; • Workflow Module; • Help Module.

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Neuron® aims to deliver value, market sustainability and growth, governance

and the elimination of risks associated with IP within organisations.


technical information

Neuron® is written on the Microsoft.Net (3.5 and 4.0) framework and designed according to the Microsoft® enterprise patterns and practices. The nature of the platform provides certain key advantages such as:

• Flexible and fast rollout within the organisation; • Effective maintenance and support of software; • Low end user system requirements; • Collaboration by system users and other stakeholders; • Web services ready; and • Centralised security.

The platform also caters for load balancing and server farming, which ensures scalability of the solution. The platform has the ability to connect to a wide variety of backend databases; however the primary database of choice is Microsoft® SQL 2008.

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software solutions

toolkits

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The following toolkits have also been developed to enable multiple methods of data and document input into the Neuron® platform, thereby ensuring ease of use and successful adoption by end users:

• Microsoft® Outlook Plug-in (Local and remote); • Microsoft® Office Plug-in (Local and remote); • SmartScan Toolkit (Local and remote); • SmartIndex Toolkit (Local and remote); • Novell® GroupWise Plug-in (in development); • Fax Navigator™ - Intelligent indexing and routing of incoming faxes; • Management Dashboards; • Neuron® Assimilator (Integration tool).

The diagram below indicates the typical communication channels into Neuron®.

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© 2010 Australis Comm (Pty) Limited

contact us

Visit the Australis® website at http://www.australis.co.za

Australis® is a registered trade mark of Australis® Comm (Pty) Limited.Neuron® is a registered trade mark of Australis® Comm (Pty) Limited.Fax Navigator™ is a registered trade mark of Australis® Comm (Pty) Limited.www.australis.co.za is a domain name registered in the name of Australis® Comm (Pty) Limited

For additional information please contact Australis® Comm (Pty) Limited:Postal P.O. Box 2221, Cresta, 2118, Gauteng, South AfricaTel +27 (0)11 431 3633 Fax +27 (0)11 476 5490E-mail [email protected] http://www.australis.co.za

Company Registration Number 1998/016569/07VAT Registration Number 4710202120Bankers Nedbank Limited, Blackheath Branch, Johannesburg, South AfricaAuditors Rothmann & Co. (Registered Chartered Accountants in South Africa)Attorneys Werksmans Inc., D.M. Kisch Inc., Bouwers Attorneys Inc. PASA registered System Operator

Member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES)

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Neuron Intellectual Property Management Brochure

Business

intellectual property

sale of intangible assets

ideas management

valuable assets

value of organisations

organisations compliance

public sector organisations

trade secret