Businesses Need I/P Strategy with Metrics

According to the recently-released Spring 2004 DLA European Intellectual Property Survey there is widespread lack of confidence in IP management abilities and IP strategy performance measurement is the area of greatest internal concern. Most of the participating companies still do not have an IP management strategy and have a narrow view about what they need to do to protect their IP. They are reluctant to devote significant investment towards the effective patent drafting and, even when they do have a strategy in place, companies rarely conduct valuation of their IP assets or measure performance of those assets.

In the study, a series of seven possible metrics were put to respondents to find out a) which are being used (in descending order below):

• percentage of income from products sold under registered trade marks
• percentage of income from products sold by the business incorporating patented technology
• percentage of turnover spent on registering IP
• percentage of income from licensing IP generally
• percentage of turnover spent on licensing IP
• percentage of income from patent licensing
• percentage of turnover spent on enforcing IP

and b) how useful they are or could be, (also in descending order below):

• percentage of income from products sold under registered trade mark
• percentage of income from products sold incorporating patented technology
• percentage of income from licensing IP generally
• percentage of turnover spent on licensing in IP
• percentage of income from patent licensing
• percentage of turnover spent on registering IP
• percentage of turnover spent on enforcing IP

For more on this topic, see "Investor Expectations go Unmet by I/P Managers."