You’re pouring your heart, soul, and endless hours into building your company.
But do you realize that what truly holds value, your intellectual property (IP), is slipping through the cracks.
The importance of IP is straightaway getting overlooked.
We know it’s not that you don’t appreciate the importance of IP, but the fact that running a business is all-consuming.
There are only so many hours in a day, and IP often ends up in that mental category of “important, but not urgent.”
It’s easy to assume that patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are things your legal team handles in the background.
It’s an aspect you delegate to R&D, innovation managers, and inventors creating it..
This is where the problem begins that eventually leads to business risks.
The Blind Spot That Costs More Than You Think
Consider your IP like locking your front door.
Just because you’re not waking up daily thinking about someone breaking in, doesn’t mean security isn’t a priority.
You need IP protection, so when a security breach strikes, it’s not already too late.
These situations happen all the time.
One day you’re about to close a huge acquisition deal—one that will solidify your company’s dominance in the market.
Due diligence is nearly complete, all the investors are aligned, and finances check out.
That’s when the red flag appears. A key piece of tech you thought you owned is tied up in a third-party patent.
The deal is stalled, valuation drops, and suddenly, you’re on the defensive.
This is how IP blind spots don’t just slow growth.
Now when you realize you should’ve locked the door, someone else is already inside.
Your idea, no matter how innovative, is just an idea until you turn into your IP.
The Myth of “No One Else Has Thought of This”
One of the biggest cognitive traps is believing that ideas your teams are working on are completely unique.
In reality, invention happens simultaneously.
Brilliant minds across the globe work in parallel, solving similar problems.
So, the worst-case scenario?
You end up investing in developing a product only to find out that someone else patented the core concept years ago, and now they’re suing you for infringement.
Ignorance isn’t a defense.
Courts don’t care if you weren’t aware of an existing patent.
And “innocent” IP mistakes can cost millions in legal battles or force you to rework an entire product.
So, the question isn’t whether you should care about IP, it’s whether you can afford not to.
Trade Secrets: The Overlooked IP Asset
While patents get the limelight, trade secrets are the unsung heroes that increase the importance of IP.
Your confidential business processes, customer lists, formulas, algorithms or anything that sets you apart from your competitors and isn’t publicly disclosed are your trade secrets.
However, unlike patents, there’s no official filing process for them.
Remember the case of Waymo vs. Uber.
A former Waymo engineer walked out with 14,000 confidential files containing proprietary self-driving car technology and joined Uber.
The result? A $245 million settlement and years of legal battles.
The only thing protecting trade secrets is your internal security and vigilance.
So, just think how much damage would it cause if a key employee walked out with your trade secrets and joined a competitor? Or if sensitive internal documents got leaked?
Once that information is out, there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle.
You need to have NDAs, internal policies, and digital security measures in place to cover all your bases.
Related Read: How to navigate the possible US Non-Compete ban?
The “It Won’t Happen to Us” Mindset
The “It won’t happen to us” fallacy is one of the most inefficient mindsets to have in business, especially when it comes to IP protection.
Many CEOs and CTOs assume that idea theft, IP challenges, trade secret leaks, or patent disputes are problems for tech giants or high-profile corporations.
That they’re too small, too niche, or too well-protected to be targeted, until they are.
- $65.7 million: This is the average sum of damages from U.S. lawsuits in 2024 alone. Up from $41.7 million in 2023.
- Patent litigation is rising: Just the first half of 2024 saw a significant uptick in patent disputes, particularly from non-practicing entities targeting companies of all sizes.
These aren’t just isolated incidents.
They demonstrate that businesses across industries, tech, manufacturing, healthcare, and beyond, are at real risk of IP disputes.
The IP Strategy Wake-Up Call & Action Items
Here’s where most companies go wrong:
- They don;t have a proactive innovation program in place to create IP and manage early phases of innovation.
- They patent everything in sight without a clear strategy (wasting millions in the process).
- They treat IP as a legal matter instead of a business asset.
- They don’t align their IP strategy with their overall business innovation strategy.
It’s all about making strategic moves.
Filing broad claims can expand your protection across industries. Licensing IP in non-competing markets can create passive revenue streams. Using patents defensively can block competitors from encroaching on your space.
The key is to stop thinking of IP as paperwork and start seeing it as an offensive and defensive tool. The companies that get this right don’t just protect their innovations—they capitalize on them. They truly get the importance of IP.
Practical Steps to Avoid IP Pitfalls
So, how can CEOs and CTOs ensure they don’t fall into the IP neglect trap? Here are some actionable steps:
- Educate yourself and your team: Understanding the basics of IP can demystify the process. Workshops, seminars, or consulting with IP professionals can be invaluable.
- Simplify the complex: Most often, you miss out on ideas and inventions because no one knows where to begin. So, make it easy to submit, develop, and collaborate on inventions. Then, take away the complexity of disclosing inventions out of the equation. Help your inventors with an effective disclosure system.
- Conduct regular IP audits: Periodically review your company’s IP assets to ensure they’re adequately protected and identify any potential vulnerabilities.
- Implement clear policies: Establish guidelines regarding IP ownership, usage, and confidentiality. Ensure all employees are aware of these policies and the consequences of violations.
- Engage legal expertise early: Involve IP attorneys in the early stages of product development to identify protectable elements and navigate the patenting process efficiently.
- Monitor the market: Keep an eye on competitors and the broader market to identify potential infringements or emerging threats to your IP.
- Think beyond usual prior art searches: Leverage advanced tools like PQAI to make it all comprehensive, covering databases internally and externally.
- Use nuanced ways of intellectual property to your advantage: IP doesn’t only mean patents, it’s a myopic view. Instead explore the right type of IP for your ideas; trademarks, copyrights, defensive publications, and so on.
Final Thought: Is Your IP Working for You or Against You?
How about you find out if your current innovation strategy and IP program are working for you?
Have an interactive conversation with our innovation success managers and Sam, CEO of InspireIP and a prolific inventor himself to review the importance of IP.
