Chapter 5. Intangible Capital and Intellectual Property

INTRODUCTION TYPES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Intellectual property has in recent years become one of the most important assets of companies in general, and is often the most valuable asset of companies in their early stage. The importance of protecting a startup's intellectual property and making the most use of it is therefore obvious.

A company's intellectual property derives from several sources, such as:

  • Technology developed in the company or acquired by it, which may increase the company's revenues, save them costs, or confer other advantages on them.

  • Unique and confidential information about customers or other contacts which could be valuable to other companies in order to increase their revenues.

Intellectual property retains its value only if the company diligently protects its rights to such property and if the rights to such intellectual property are commercialized in the best possible manner.

This chapter will review the main types of intellectual property and the means of protecting them. Particular attention will be paid to startups and to the various methods of extracting the highest return from such property.



From Concept to Wall Street(c) A Complete Guide to Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital
From Concept to Wall Street: A Complete Guide to Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital
ISBN: 0130348031
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 131

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net