IP P®OSPE©TIVE

One of the more interesting, and important, happenings in the IP market is the emerging movement to fill a C-Suite (corporate exec. office) chair with an individual that understands and envisions IP as a potential asset class, and not a means to litigation.  (For a good quote on the idea that we need to move away from the thinking that IP is only relevant for litigation, see the ipVA blog: “the earliest evolution of our market over-emphasises the link between IP value and litigation. We are moving away from this, but with most of the prominent IP success stories being linked to litigation, the move cannot come fast enough“).   I hesitate in using the title Chief Intellectual Property Officer (CIPO), because the connotation usually refers to in-house counsel that works to manage the risk provided by a corporation’s intellectual property, and has not always worked to produce value with that IP. 

The movement is important because the companies that get it will capitalize.  IBM gets it.  Philips gets it.  Microsoft gets it.  It is critical to shift the traditional chain of command in a corporation so that information pertaining to IP flows to the CEO through channels that don’t mask that information as risk management 411.  Instead, it should be business development information. 

Although there are a number of publications which have encouraged this movement, a recent article I found is a good place to start: “Fix Your Broken IP Structures” by Andrew Watson and Jordan Hatcher of ipVA (IP Value Added). 

You can read it for yourself (you should).