Competences to which this Module is addressed to:

Entrepreneurial competences addressed in this module:

• How to turn your artistic work profitable?
• How to use your intellectual assets as a source of your living?
• How to manage the process of an idea becoming intellectual property?

This module supports:

• the assessment of intellectual capital, development of intellectual assets – innovation,
• managing intellectual property,
• exploitation of intellectual assets.

Objectives of the Module:

The aim of this module is to help you understand the nature of intellectual capital, asset and property, and show why this is important when developing your business/artistic work, how you should identify, develop, manage and exploit them and how you should protect your intellectual properties.
At the end of this module you will be able to identify and plan the utilization of your intellectual assets and to lay out a strategy to protect your intellectual property.

Introduction:

Have you ever considered corporate knowledge, business know-how, business secrets, and copyrighted works as a valuable intellectual property? Not many people do this, but you have just to think about for example the Apple Inc. vs Samsung Electronics Co. lawsuit regarding the design of smartphones and tablets in which hundreds of millions of US dollars were at stake. This may help you to re-evaluate the situation. The following chapters will help you identify and utilize your intellectual assets.

Creativity and the need of invention often became manifested in products which could be considered as intellectual properties. If something new and unique is created, it is a rightful thing to protect it from the competition, to keep the advantage that a novel invention represents. There is a long chain of innovations behind the products and services we use, such as design, a new manufacturing process or the brand itself.

“Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions; literary and artistic works; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. Intellectual property, very broadly, means the legal rights which result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields.” (World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO)

Regardless of the field you are working in and the kind of service you provide, most likely you are regularly dealing with intellectual property – maybe without even knowing it. If you plan to grow your business you should consider taking the required steps to protect, manage and claim the intellectual rights of your products and ideas; it can greatly help you to enjoy the fruits of your work.
This is the final goal, isn’t it?

The very essential contents/Learning Objectives:

It is very important to map and protect your IPs, because the unique ideas can be easily copied which could result somebody else seizing the profits otherwise you should earn. This module helps you to identify, protect and utilize your IPs.

The main chapters