Remember to check out the good reads at the end of this post!
As I am about to write an e-booklet on the intersection of intellectual property and open innovation, it would be great to get your input on this intersection.
The below categories might give you some inspiration and if you have something to share on intellectual property and open innovation, please add a comment stating which category it belongs to. Don’t feel shy about using the Other category – I am trying to keep an open mind here : – )
Biggest pain points and obstacles
What are the key issues on intellectual property and open innovation? What are the real pain points and obstacles that hinder more open innovation?
Initiatives worth looking into
What initiatives are helping us bring more and better solutions to this intersection?
People who know about intellectual property and open innovation
Who are the corporate people, advisors, entrepreneurs, organization and institution leaders who know about this stuff?
Good reads (articles, blog posts and cases)
Can you suggest any good reads or cases worth looking into?
Other things
What can you add beyond the above categories?
For inspiration, here you get a list of articles, blog posts and websites related to the intersection. I have added a short snippet from each read to give you a better idea of what to expect.
How Intellectual Property (IP) Enables And Protects Open Innovation Platforms – by Ben Kerschberg
“The small companies need to think about protecting their IP, but with the examples above, the larger company must think about using its IP to protect its partners. IBM, Google, and Microsoft [are prominent examples of how] to leverage their IP to protect their alliances.”
Open Innovation Strategy and Intellectual Property – by David Cruickshank
“…a knowledgeable IPR attorney describing the importance of the business case and that this should dominate potential legal issues and risks and not be the other way around. I’ve heard this often enough too. The business manager needs to decide what is right for the business. The attorney assigned to support the manager then advises upon what the potential risks are and/or develops language to provide the necessary legal protections.”
Using open innovation for IP collaboration – conference recap by Stratis G. Camatsos
“…each system (copyright, patents, competition, innovation policy etc.) may be internally consistent, but still allow undesirable effects in the way in which they interact with one another, or that different institutions need to understand the interaction of the different roles they play in aiding the development of technology.”
Open Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights – The Two-edged Sword – by Bronwyn H. Hall
“A skeptic could argue that the IP being given up by these large firms is not very valuable to them, and that pledging allegiance to open innovation is merely a convenient way of saying that they are open to taking others’ ideas without giving up any of their own. In one sense, the skeptic would be right that these firms have not given up their quest for profits in embracing the open innovation model… However, the skeptic would be wrong in supposing that the advocacy of “open innovation” is hollow.”
Success in Innovation Requires IP Counseling on the Front End: Here’s How to Make it Happen – by Jackie Hutter
“My experience as a full-fledged member of an innovation team at a major consumer products company demonstrated to me (and my team) that legal risks of new product and technology development can be significantly reduced or even eliminated by having a business-minded lawyer involved in the earliest stages. Rather than acting as a “traffic cop” for the business, IP counsel should set forth “guard rails” within which a business team should drive their innovation processes.”
5 Biggest IP Legal Mistakes Small Companies Make When Working with Large Companies – by Jackie Hutter
1. Thinking you have all the answers for the large company’s problems
2. Bringing the wrong lawyer to the table
3. Putting the legal issues ahead of the business issues
4. Not understanding the economics and low probability of success of product development
5. Assuming the large company intends to “stick it to you”
Intellectual Property Issues in Collaborative Research Agreements – by Zerby and Slowinski
“The number of collaborative research agreements is increasing rapidly. Industrial Research Institute member firms are engaging small high technology companies, Federal Laboratories, Universities, international firms and competitors in ways not dreamed of just five years ago. Central to these collaborations is the need to share proprietary intellectual property (IP) to meet the collaboration’s objectives, and to jointly create new IP. Firms face a number of predictable pitfalls as they work to achieve these objectives. The purpose of this article is to outline the pitfalls and suggest ways to deal with them.”
Fuentek – the blog
A good resource on technology transfer and IP management.
Nike and Partners Launch the GreenXchange – article by Don Tapscott
“The Xchange is a Web-based marketplace where companies can collaborate and share intellectual property which can lead to new sustainability business models and innovation. Ten organizations have already signed on. The Xchange is the first step in a journey towards more sustainable innovation, and the more companies that get on board, the faster we’ll all make progress.”
About the GreenXchange – the website
“At the GreenXchange, our strategy is simple, to accelerate and scale sustainability-innovation through sharing intellectual property assets. We do this with an eye toward: reducing the costs of technology transfer, driving the creation of new innovations and business models, and finally, accelerating industry convergence. The resulting innovations create more efficient, more profitable, and more meaningful business opportunities or models.”
Creative Commons – the website
“Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.”
Creative Barcode – the website
“The use of digital barcodes is most ideal to denote original concepts when undertaking any new business activity necessitating disclosure of works & proposals. Ideas’ alone are ‘not’ automatically protected under Intellectual Property law. However, there is a big difference between notional ideas and innovation and creative concepts. Creative Barcode draws that distinction and its use enables innovation & creative concepts to be protected.”
