Think of the light bulb; the internal combustion engine; penicillin; the telephone; computers – what do they all have in common? They are of course all inventions that changed the world we live in, but also, they are examples of what’s known as intellectual property – “IP” for short - which gives special legal protection for inventions, designs and other forms of creative or innovative endeavour.
Intellectual Property is big business
Sir Richard Branson recently sold his Virgin Mobile business to NTL for almost £1bn, and in addition, NTL must pay Sir Richard a licence fee for the right to use the VIRGIN trade mark, another form of IP right, at a minimum of £8.5m each year for 30 years.
What’s even more amazing is that the VIRGIN brand is a minnow compared to the real power brands in the global economy – according to the BrandZ Top 100 most valuable brands survey as publicised in the FT on Monday 3 April this year, the most valuable trade mark in the world is MICROSOFT, which is valued at a staggering $62,039,000,000!
Another form of IP right is copyright. This was famously was tested in the courts recently in the “Da Vinci Code” case – it is estimated that Dan Brown has made a personal fortune from the copyright in that book (not just from sales of the book itself but from spin-offs such as the Da Vinci Code Hollywood blockbuster) of some £250m.
IP can become so valuable that people will go to extraordinary lengths to get their hands on it – even after death: for example, when the trustees of the estates of the late Princess Diana tried, unsuccessfully, to protect her image and name as legal trade marks, to stop the lucrative trade in “unofficial” Diana memorabilia.
So, what are Intellectual Property rights?
Andrew Mills explains: “IP is the broad name given to many different sorts of legal rights. For example, copyright, which gives people legal rights to stop others copying books, music and software. There are rights which cover designs – whether it’s the inside of a car exhaust or the look of an IKEA table. Patents, on the other hand, protect novel inventions and can cover all manner of things, from Dyson vacuum cleaners through to cutting edge developments in medical drugs. Trade marks or ‘brands’, can attract an immense amount of commercial value, as the MICROSOFT example shows.
They have a special position in law – they are a compromise between two different public interests. They are, in effect, legal monopolies, which goes against the usual rule which says that anti-competitive practices are against the public interest; but on the other hand there’s a public interest in rewarding and encouraging innovation and creative effort”.
So, how to make yourself rich the IP way? Here are our 3 “easy” steps…
1. Do what JK Rowling did and write a best-seller, remembering to make even more money out of merchandising, computer games and Hollywood blockbusters;
2. Do what Bill Gates did and write some software which no-one can live or work without;
3. Do what Tesco or Richard Branson did and build up a business with such a strong brand that you can sell virtually anything to anyone!
So, what are you waiting for…?
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