Exploitation Strategies
| Author | Russell L. Parr |
| Profession | President of Intellectual Property Research Associates |
| Pages | 177-186 |
CHAPTER 13
EXPLOITATION STRATEGIES1
Chief executive ofcers(CEOs) around the country are wondering why their companies are
not earning billions of dollars per year from licensing and other intellectual property man-
agement practices. Their competitive natures immediately make it impossible for them to
face their contemporaries until they can make a similar claim. So they summon the company
licensing executive into their ofce, promote this person to vice president of intellectual
property management, and tell him or her to deliver several hundred million dollars of
licensing income for the next quarter’s earnings report. “Oh, by the way,” they tell the new
vice president, “don’t license out anything important or valuable.”
This chapter will discuss the nature of an intellectual property management effort.
Understanding the different types of intellectual property management strategies that
exist, and why each can be appropriate depending on specic corporate philosophies
and strategies, is important. Bigger objectives for licensing income and other forms of
intellectual property management require an enormous commitment from a new vice
president, and reporting responsibilities must be linked directly to the new vice president
and no one else in the company.
The chapter begins with Exhibit 13.1, depicting the levels of intellectual property man-
agement. First, we discuss the different types of generic intellectual property management
currently being conducted from the point of view of corporate objectives. Then we will dis-
cuss the potential for visionary intellectual property management and the corporate infras-
tructure that is required to achieve the big money in licensing.
DEFENSIVE STRATEGIES
Protection of prots and markets is the principal objective of this strategy. A portfolio of
intellectual property is maintained to hold competitors at bay. The legal department often
is the central force of this strategy. It prosecutes patents and maintains them to use against
competitors that are making inroads into business markets of the company. This strategy
has evolved because the traditional barriers to entry have crumbled.
In the past, distribution networks, manufacturing capacity, and large bank accounts of
cash made it difcult for competitors to steal market share. Today these barriers are easily
1This chapter was developed from previous writing completed by the author of this book and PatrickH. Sullivan,
who is an expert at creating prots from intellectual assets and is considered one of the leading conceptual
thinkers in extracting value from intellectual capital. He is a founding partner of the ICM Group, a Palo Alto,
California–based consulting company focused on managing intellectual capital to maximize value. He is also
cofounder of the ICM Gathering, composed of managers of intellectual capital for large, diverse international
companies who meet to exchange information on new and innovativemanagement techniques.
177
To continue reading
Request your trial