It comes as no surprise to our readers that, as a global trend, the value of intellectual property rights (or IPRs, as we often refer to them) and the revenue they bring in is on the rise. Neither will it be news to you that as the value of intellectual property rights grows, so do the risks related to them and so does the significance of the agreements that govern them. What you may have also noticed is the way IPR agreement terms and conditions are developing and expanding to correspond to these new risks. These are not, however, the only change we see in IPR agreements today. To add to them, new asset types and co-operation based development methods give their own flare to contract procedures.
In this article, we discuss four emerging trends in the field of IPR agreements. Although the contents of IPR agreements continues to develop, some things still remain true – a well-crafted agreement is and remains the best way to prevent disputes and ensure smooth co-operation.
A good IPR agreement is ‘just’ the implementation of an IPR strategy
The wonderful thing about intellectual property rights as an asset is how flexible they are. For example, an exclusive right achieved through a patent includes, among others, the making, offering, putting on the market and using of the product protected by the patent, and importing or possessing it for these purposes. In turn, a copyright consists of both economic and moral rights and their components. When you also take into account that these exclusive rights and their components can be transferred onward both partially and entirely, you have a broad spectrum of possibilities to choose from.
On the other hand, even the most significant IPR agreement is just a piece of the larger puzzle that makes up a company’s business. If each piece of the puzzle is crafted independently with no regard for the other pieces, piecing the puzzle together becomes impossible. In order to succeed, you need clear policies on what it is you are aiming at – in other words, you need an IPR strategy.
IPR strategies are not a new phenomenon. On the contrary, companies that manage their intellectual property diligently have had IPR strategies for quite a while now. Instead, the change we now see relates to what types of companies have decided it is time to create an IPR strategy to boost and support their business, and what such strategies aim at. If you want to know more, we recommend reading our colleagues’ articles in this Quarterly on the topic.
When implemented correctly, each IPR agreement is merely an expression of the company’s IPR strategy –a case-specific record of a more extensive policy in accordance to which the company procures, protects and utilises its intangible assets in a way that produces commercial value for the company. At best, an IPR strategy provides clear, easily understandable and implementation-ready policies according to which all IPR agreements are drafted. Whether your topic-of-the-day is data ‘sharing’, the allocation of rights, or back-to-back agreements, the answer is there, just waiting to be put into action.
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