Collaboration between IP department and other departments promote IP utilisation

Abstract

In many countries, intellectual property rights have been given emphasis for the past 20–30 years. Traditionally, IP personnel in enterprises have been involved in practical jobs such as filing patent/trademark/design applications, and making responses to the examiners of IP organisation of government and maintaining registration of IPR, in accordance with existing IP laws and its regulations. However the recent increase in the strategic value of intellectual property rights and wider scope of IP-related activities has necessitated greater inter-departmental collaboration within the company. In this study, we investigated the collaboration between the IP department and other units within the same company. We conducted a questionnaire survey to determine the level of integration of IP department with other departments. Based on the results of questionnaires, we propose greater collaboration with other departments, and suggest the use of benchmarking in order to improve collaboration and change of IP strategies for business growth.