Why should you care about intellectual property?

Why should you care about intellectual property rights?

Azèle Mathieu, PhD

3 February 2015

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Azèle Mathieu

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Business background

• Manager health cluster lifetech.brussels (www.lifetechbrussels.com )

• Financial Advisor @impulse.brussels

• Business Development Manager@Bone Therapeutics

• Business Development Manager@ULB Technology Transfer Office

Academic background

• Professor Technology Transfer (7th year) & Business Planning (3rd year) @ Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM), Master & MBA

• PhD in Economics and Management

!!! Protecting your IP does not mean

not sharing your ideas !!!

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Why should you care about IP?

Benefits for you

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• Raise your awareness!

• Spare time

– Think before you act

– Experts, online resources, patent attorneys,…

• Spare money

– “IP is expensive” … but lawsuits are!

– Example

– Public financial incentives

• Consolidate your competitive advantage

– Innovative business model

– Innovative product/service

– …

– IP?

• In some cases, can be a leverage to earn money

Intellectual property & value

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Coca-Cola®

TM: EUR 58.7 Billion

Apple® iPod touch®

> 100 Mio sold over 6 years

Harry Potter Copyright: EUR 681 Mio

Polaroid® instant camera Patents: EUR 692 Mio

DNA copying process Patents: EUR 225 Mio

EPO/OHIM Intellectual Property Teaching Kit - IP Basics

What do you know about Intellectual Property Rights?

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What is Intellectual Property?

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IP is - a collection of - legal and enforceable rights that - provide control of the availability and use of - skills, creativity, resources and technology and - give the owner or his licensee a competitive

advantage. These rights are exclusive to the owner, but also come with some important exceptions.

Agenda

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• Types of IP – Copyright

– Trademark

– Design

– Trade secret

– Patent

• Key resources

Overview of Intellectual Property rights

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Legal rights What for? How?

Patents New inventions Application and

examination

Copyright © Original creative or artistic

forms Exists automatically

upon fixation

Trade marks ™/® Distinctive identification of

the source of a good/service

Use and/or registration

Registered designs

External appearance Registration

Trade secrets Valuable information not

known to the public Reasonable efforts

to keep secret

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Legal rights What for? How?

Patents New inventions Application and

examination

Copyright © Original creative or artistic

forms Exists automatically

upon fixation

Trade marks ™/® Distinctive identification of

the source of a good/service

Use and/or registration

Registered designs

External appearance Registration

Trade secrets Valuable information not

known to the public Reasonable efforts

to keep secret

Overview of Intellectual Property rights

When should you start taking care of your IP?

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Legal rights When

Patents Before any (scientific) publication

Copyright © Ok exists automatically =>

publication

Trade marks ™/® Before marketing your

product/service (e.g. info on the net)

Registered designs Before outsourcing the making of

the object (e.g. Get Well Kit)

Trade secrets Keep it secret… all the time "Information is the lifeblood of the company”

Intellectual Property (1/2)

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• Copyright © – protects creative expression stored in a tangible format

(for example, books, recorded music, paintings, sculptures, films, and software code)

• Trademark ® / TM – Protection of distinguishing assets to help public identify

source of a good/service (for example, brands and logos)

• Design and Industrial Model – Protection of aesthetic visible qualities (for example, the

form and shape of a product)

Intellectual Property (2/2)

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• Patent (patented/patent pending)

– Protection of technical inventions (for example, a product or manufacturing process)

• Trade secret or know how

– Protection of undisclosed know-how (for example, a recipe, technique, process, customer list, business plan)

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What kind of IP Exists in this

iphone?

Some IP found in a mobile phone

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• Trade marks:

– Apple logo

– Product name “iPhone” – Software “iOS”?

• Patents:

– Data-processing methods

– Semiconductor circuits

– Chemical compounds,…

• Copyrights:

– Software code

– Instruction manual

– Ringtone,…

• Trade secrets:

– ?

• Designs (some of them registered):

– Form of the overall phone

– Arrangement of buttons in oval shape

– Three-dimensional wave form of buttons,…

Some IP found in a mobile phone

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• Trade marks:

– Apple logo

– Product name “iPhone” – Software “iOS”?

• Patents:

– Data-processing methods

– Semiconductor circuits

– Chemical compounds,…

• Copyrights:

– Software code

– Instruction manual

– Ringtone,…

• Trade secrets:

– ?

• Designs (some of them registered):

– Form of the overall phone

– Arrangement of buttons in oval shape

– Three-dimensional wave form of buttons,…

Agenda

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• Types of IP – Copyright

– Trademark

– Design

– Trade secret

– Patent

• Key resources

Copyright

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Copyright

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• Definition – The exclusive, legally secured right to publish, reproduce and sell the

matter and form of a literary, musical, dramatic or artistic work

• Original works of authorship protected, include: – Literary works (includes computer source code!) – Musical works – Dramatic works – Choreographic works – Pictorial, graphical, sculptural works – Motion pictures – Architectural works

• Example: dictionary (Van Dale)

Copyright

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• Exception/Limitations:

– Limited in duration (though quite long!)

– Ideas vs. Expression

– “Fair use” when being reproduced but no protection for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, research, further improvements, etc.

– “Private copies”

Agenda

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• Types of IP – Copyright

– Trademark

– Design

– Trade secret

– Patent

• Key resources

Trademarks

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• Definition – Any means to identify and distinguish products or services

• Duration:

– Period of 10 years indefinitely renewable

• Requirements: – Should have a distinguishing character, without being too

descriptive

– National registration

• Examples: – words, sign, sentence, odor, shape, color, tune, noise,…

Trademarks

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• “(…) Our registered trade mark (…) provides us with a consistent image to the marketplace. It's all about consumer recognition".

• The Coffee Club trade mark is registered

– with IP Australia across a variety of classes.

– in more than a dozen countries; providing protection for what could conceivably be a global market.

• “Intellectual property - our trade marks, copyrighted menus, brochures and so on - all of this is just as important to us as any other business issue. Maybe more so because that is what makes us distinctive, different from the rest”.

• The Coffee Club's secure IP is attractive to potential franchisees. “(…) protected from local and international competitors trying to imitate The Coffee Club brand, which could threaten our investment.”

Source: http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au

When buying/investing/partnering in/with a company, be careful of who holds the IP rights and if they are included in the deal...

Trademarks VW vs. Rolls Royce case

26 Source: http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au

Trademarks

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• Is my trademark already used/registered by another company? – Search on:

https://register.boip.int/bmbonline/intro/show.do – Example: search for the mark “PREOB”:

http://www.wipo.int/romarin/advSearch.do?ID=0&searchString=+/MARKGR/INTREGN+contains+972042&searchDatabaseAct=on&searchDatabaseDel=on

– Refused marks: https://register.boip.int/bmbonline/search/publication/perform.do

Source: www.boip.int

Agenda

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• Types of IP – Copyright

– Trademark

– Design

– Trade secret

– Patent

• Key resources

Designs or industrial models

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• Definition

– Industrial models or design protect the aesthetic qualities of a particular shape or form of a certain product having a specific function

• Duration:

– 5 + 5 + 5 years

Designs or industrial models

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• The problem: competitor copying designs

• Is my industrial model already used/registered by another company?

– Search on: https://register.boip.int/designsOnlineWeb/?l=fr

– Example: search for chair http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2012/06/article_0004.html

• The lesson: register designs before releasing them to the market

Source: www.boip.int

Agenda

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• Types of IP – Copyright

– Trademark

– Design

– Trade secret

– Patent

• Key resources

Trade secrets or know how

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• Secret information giving an advantage over competitors.

• Will need to be kept secret…

– Take all reasonable steps such as confidential agreements, clauses in contracts,…

Agenda

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• Types of IP – Copyright

– Trademark

– Design

– Trade secret

– Patent

• Key resources

A patent: definition

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Exclusive right

“Negative” right

Granted for an invention, product/process offering a new

technical solution to a problem

Duration: 20 years

Implication: the invention cannot be commercially made,

used, distributed or sold without the patent owner's

consent

Conditions to be fulfilled

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Practical use

Industrial application

Can be made or used in any kind of industry

Element of novelty

Not publicly available

Not part of the state of the art

Inventive step

Not obvious to a person skilled in the art

Accepted as "patentable" under law

A patent is a contract between an inventor and a state

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Inventor State

1. Protection for about 20 years 1. Publication of the invention

2. Exclusive rights to produce, use, sell and import the invention

- To recup investment in R&D - To strenghten market position and

competitiveness

- To spread new technical knowledge - To avoid R&D duplication - To foster innovation

Which roles a patent may fulfil ?(1/2)

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Competitive advantage

Attraction of capital

Negotiating power

● Technological negotiations

● Business negotiations

(Cross/sub)-licensing agreements

Bargain against financial difficulties

Patent portfolio = a valuable intangible asset

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1.100 patents

$500 millions - $2.6 billions =

The multiple roles of a patent: (2/2)

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Securing international and national markets

Defensive and offensive strategies

Improving the reputation

Facilitating the coordination amongst partners

…

Agenda

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• Types of IP – Copyright

– Trademark

– Design

– Trade secret

– Patent

• Key resources

Resources

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• https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu/

• http://www.ideasmatter.com/

• http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/understanding-intellectual-property/case-studies/

• OHMI - Trademark, Design, Industrial secret:

https://oami.europa.eu/ohimportal/fr/

• EPO - Patent:

http://www.epo.org/

In Belgium:

• OBPI – Trademark, Design, Industrial secret

https://www.boip.int/wps/portal/site/home/!ut/p/a1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOKdg5w8HZ0MHQ0MfJ3MDTx9Hb28_Xz8jC0CDPSD04r0C7IdFQH92-xE/

• OPRI - Patent

http://economie.fgov.be/fr/entreprises/propriete_intellectuelle/Aspects_institutionnels_et_pratiques/OPRI/#.U8JKXk2KAkI

• Public financial incentives:

http://newinnoviris.irisnet.be/fr/soutien-financier-entreprises/programmes-bruxellois/protect-patent

http://www.ecosubsibru.be/index.cfm?fuseaction=aides.aides_one&aide_id=28&language=FR

Q&A

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