Control of IP on Business Side of Corporation
There’s a key point in this IAM magazine article by Joff Wild in the July 9, 2014, issue. Note that the Chief IP Officer is not an attorney- he a business professional. This is a significant change, a recognition that commercialization of Intellectual Property in a marketed product, a Patent Licensing Agreement with Royalties, a technology transfer or an outright patent sale is a business decision, not a legal one. In some companies going back nearly 50 years, (AT&T, IBM, DuPont, Xerox to name a few) the decisions on IP were made by the business side. But, for most, it has only been since the late 1980s that brought the marked change from predominantly physical assets in a corporation to intellectual assets that has prompted more and more corporations to view IP as a key revenue generator that has a place in the strategic plan. The business development organization would be an appropriate place for decisions on IP revenue generation.
