For the past few months I have made it my business to learn as much as possible about the world of Intellectual Property Management, and to try to work out how this could best serve management consultants in protecting their income stream and building value into their companies.
I found this book, Protecting Your #1 Asset, to be a fantastic source of information on the subject.
While it doesn't go into how to use IP as a competitive advantage, it does provide a load of information on what different types of IP exist, their relative strengths and weaknesses, and a lot of background on the "business" of IP.
Using this guide I have already made my mind up about a lot of issues that I am considering for my upcoming eBook, and it provided me with a solid base to get that process started.
Protecting Your #1 Asset is one of the most helpful introductions to the legal side of intellectual property acquisition and management that I have seen. Few who are not intellectual property attorneys have this knowledge. As a result of ignorance, many well-meaning individuals make substantial mistakes that cost them substantial incomes. This book will "alert you to the pitfalls that can strip the rights from the unwary."
This book covers the primary ways to protect intellectual property, including trade secrets, utility and design patents, mask work protection, copyrights, trademarks, and trade dress. This is done in the context of maximizing your revenue and income by creating protected intellectual property and creating competitive barriers, while minimizing the risk of receiving and being harmed by third-party claims against you.
I have seen a number of consultancies that were built on the back of one very powerful idea. And when these are well protected it provides these companies with a near monopoly on their area of service provision. For me, IP is the single most important aspect of protecting revenues and building value into a consulting firm, and this book is a great guide to the theme.
