The Management of Intellectual Property: Introduction

Abstract

The present book brings together 15 chapters by economists, managerial scientists, accountants and lawyers on different dimensions of the management of intellectual property (IP) and, by implication, intellectual property rights (IPRs). Management could, in principle, imply management by government as well as by companies. In practice, the focus of the present contributions is on private sector issues such as the private costs and benefi ts of alternative strategies, rather than on how the government or international bodies manage (or should manage) IPRs. Almost without exception, the discussion considers company and organizational issues within the context of the existing IPR framework. Thus, the optimal design of the framework of IP laws lies well outside the bounds of the present book. In principle, IP covers the creative activities of literary, artistic and scientifi c works; performances of performing artists, phonograms and broadcasts; inventions in all fi elds of human endeavour; scientifi c discoveries; industrial designs; trademarks, service marks, and commercial names and designations; protection against unfair competition; and all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientifi c, literary or artistic fi elds (WIPO, 1967, Article 2(viii)). The present book, in principle at least, has a somewhat broader focus than some of the earlier attempts to explore the management of IP, which have tended to focus on patents and patent-related IPRs (for example, Granstrand, 1999). Patenting remains an important dimension of the present discussion, but there is some coverage of the trade and service marks, as well as an attempt to place them in the broader context of other forms of IP and IPRs. The discussion in this chapter does not dwell on the different forms of IPRs; these are made clear in Chapter 2 (although not every form of IPR is considered) as well as when they are discussed in various other chapters (for example, Chapter 7). In addition, the present