Online Tool Helps Businesses Manage Intellectual Assets

A new online tool, called Intellectual Property Explorer has been developed by the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) in partnership with the government intellectual property offices of Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore to help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) realise and profit from their intellectual property assets.

It is pleasing to note that the tool adopts a broad definition of "intellectual property", and reflects an approach generally consistent with principles of Intellectual Asset Management (IAM).

The online system guides users through a four-stage process:

1. investigate – the types of intellectual assets that might be owned by the business;
2. identify – the specific, and potentially protectable and commercially-valuable intellectual assets used in the business, including intellectual capital such as "human capital", "structural capital" and "relationship capital";
3. analyse – the identified intellectual assets through an IP audit process, to establish ownership, freedom to operate, protection strategies, and so forth; and
4. improve – the value extracted by the business from its intellectual assets, by integrating them into its ongoing business strategies.

We doubt very much that an online tool will enable users who are not already experienced in IP management to conduct a comprehensive audit and implement an IP strategy in their business. However, this system looks like a great starting point for any business wanting to learn more about managing intellectual property, and extracting greater value from its intellectual assets.

As an educational aid, and a stepping stone to improving business practices, recognising the unrealised potential of existing intellectual assets, and making the decision to implement new strategies (perhaps with professional assistance), we think that Intellectual Property Explorer is great initiative. Check it out!

---

Before You Go…

Thank you for reading this article to the end – I hope you enjoyed it, and found it useful.  Almost every article I post here takes a few hours of my time to research and write, and I have never felt the need to ask for anything in return.

But now – for the first, and perhaps only, time – I am asking for a favour.  If you are a patent attorney, examiner, or other professional who is experienced in reading and interpreting patent claims, I could really use your help with my PhD research.  My project involves applying artificial intelligence to analyse patent claim scope systematically, with the goal of better understanding how different legal and regulatory choices influence the boundaries of patent protection.  But I need data to train my models, and that is where you can potentially assist me.  If every qualified person who reads this request could spare just a couple of hours over the next few weeks, I could gather all the data I need.

The task itself is straightforward and web-based – I am asking participants to compare pairs of patent claims and evaluate their relative scope, using an online application that I have designed and implemented over the past few months.  No special knowledge is required beyond the ability to read and understand patent claims in technical fields with which you are familiar.  You might even find it to be fun!

There is more information on the project website, at claimscopeproject.net.  In particular, you can read:

1. a detailed description of the study, its goals and benefits; and
2. instructions for the use of the online claim comparison application.

Thank you for considering this request!

Mark Summerfield

Tags: Intellectual Asset Management