[Mastering the IP Portfolio, by Taeyoung Lee] ① IP Is Not Simply Invented; It Is Created.

This is the first column in the "Mastering the IP Portfolio" series by our patent attorney Taeyoung Lee, published on March 27, 2020 in IP Daily, a media outlet specializing in intellectual property.

[Mastering the IP Portfolio, by Taeyoung Lee] ① IP Is Not Simply Invented; It Is Created.

We are now in the age of intellectual property. Anyone running a business today needs to secure patents and other intellectual property rights, because IP is not only an intangible asset of the company but also the minimum line of defense against imitation by others. Yet most business owners lack a strategic approach to securing IP rights when they develop a new product or service. This series presents technical strategies for building an IP portfolio.

"There is always IP to protect": developing a product or service

Because business owners generally think only of patents, they frequently fail to seek protection for items worth protecting when a new product or service is developed. Even where only patents are concerned, there are countless cases in which inventors or applicants decide for themselves that their invention lacks novelty or inventive step and never file a patent application.

To build an IP portfolio strategically, however, a paradigm shift away from these conventional assumptions is needed. Under the conventional mindset, a patent application is considered only when an item is found that anyone would agree is worth patenting, and within that framework it is extremely difficult to build a portfolio strategically.

From now on, we need to shift our thinking so that whenever a new product or service is developed, it is taken for granted that it should have IP rights protecting it.

(For the full column, please click the link below.)

LNB IP Law Firm