WHAT INNOVATION MEANS TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

WHAT INNOVATION MEANS TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 

 

There are many steps along many pathways to capitalising on innovation and achieving success in the marketplace. In IP Australia we have a key part to play as one of the steps many innovators will choose to take - the step of formally protecting their intellectual property. But this can also be a dangerous step for some innovators.

Let me illustrate this. Start up innovators commonly include intellectual property protection in their "to do" list to get their idea to market. Frequently, however, we see innovators who just want to tick this item off their list. They lodge their patent, trade mark or design application, but they have not always done their homework. The application is often ill-conceived either from a business point of view or from an IP protection point of view or sometimes both.

The IP system can be unforgiving and recovery from such errors is not always possible. Many innovators, unprepared for the process and not clear about how IP protection works in conjunction with their business strategy, get stopped in their tracks at this point. They become frustrated with the IP system and fixate on securing IP protection with a loss of focus on their business goals - good ideas that could have or should have succeeded never get to the market place. The energy of the innovator is consumed securing the goal of patent protection or trade mark registration. The goal of getting the idea into the marketplace is forgotten or fatally delayed.

When understood and used in a strategic way, IP rights can become valuable business assets. The Australian innovation environment has spawned thousands of businesses which have used the IP system to great effect. The message they received from my office is not "Protect your IP or perish", but rather "Think about whether protecting your IP makes good business sense". We want the right people using the IP system, at the right time, for the right reasons.

Dr Ian Heath, director general,
IP Australia

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