Market- and Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship
Protection of intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP)
- Working definition: any product of human intellect that is intangible (ontastbaar), but has value
in the marketplace
- Rules of thumb: pursue protection of intellectual property if it
o Has value in the marketplace, (otherways waste of time)
o Relates to competitive advantage (should be sustainable)
Makes it more inimitable
Common IP – mistakes
Keeping things a secret is also a good way to protect something (applying
for a patent costs money, and so does managing one
Alternatives of protection of IP
- Open source (share your ideas)
o Get faster adoption (people can add their own pieces, making it more valuable for
themselves)
- Open source with architectural control (although making your thing open source, you’re more in
control, not every contribution will be implicated, what type of future to add or not to add)
o Determine structure and operation of technology
o Direct future
- Licensing (medical world, production facilities, machines, small businesses is going to large
businesses to produce their product) large companies will pay you something on every product
that you sell
o To selected OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufacturer Parts, venture that produces a
original product, defines the relationship between client and supplier)
- Keep secret (NDA (non-disclosure agreement, offers 2 parties the possibility to share
confidentially information), confidentiality agreement)
o Going to be difficult to find out how it works (patent is only for max 20 years, after that
not possible, you have to publish the recipes in order to get your patent, e.g. coca cola)
- Publish (difference open source (programs, codes) and publish is scientific approach (this is how
we’ve done it especially for example for medicine or treatments))
, What is IP?
- Main rule in society: freedom of competition
Everyone has the right to start there own company, IP prevents other to do exactly the same,
protection to the rights of the creator, in exchange the explanation so that everyone can learn
from that
o IP rights (IPR) form an exception to this rule
- IP rights are meant to promote innovation, e.g. by providing:
o (temporary) protection of the rights of the creator in exchange for publication of the
work of the creator; and/or
o Clarity on the ownership of a work
Clarity: (duidelijk who is the owner)
Multiple types of IP
- Copyrights: (‘works’ in literary, scientific and artistic domain)
o anything you create, draw, write, you automatically you have a copyright on that
- Trademarks: (name of a product)
o protect name of a products
- Designs (physical appearance)
- Inventions (technical functionality)
- Trade names (name of a company)
- Farmer’s rights : agricultural modification
- Databases
- Computer chip topographies
- Trade secrets / know how
IP: Copyright
Right to original creative works, e.g. a text, song or music, building architecture, product image, software
that are identifiable and original
=> All the notes that I’m making I have immediately copyright on, song, text, etc. you don’t have to do
anything for it.
- Granted automatically
- Duration: author’s life + 70 years
- Protect against nearly exact copying
Computer software protected ‘as such’
- Source code, object code & user interface are protected
- Ideas, algorithms, programming languages and functionality are not
Databases as a collection of works, data or other elements are protected against retrieval of said
data
IP: Trademarks
Prevents confusion about the origin of a product or service, also prevent unfair competition
- Names, logos etc.
- Registered ( ® ) or unregistered ™ when you don’t register your
trademark, you have to defend your trademark