Why is Intellectual Property important?

All businesses have some material that may be able to be protected by IP even though they may not recognise it eg:

• their business name and names of particular products
• documentation on their products and processes
• innovations and inventions
• the design of their products
• the labelling of their products
• their advertising artwork and videos

The point of IP protection is to give a business a competitive advantage by granting the owner exclusive rights so that they can prevent competitors from copying them.  These rights can also be sold or licensed to others, thus generating revenue for the business.

IP laws are very complex and it takes an expert to be able to navigate them successfully.  Margaret is such an expert and can identify valuable material that might be able to be protected, advise on IP protection, assist in the commercialisation of IP rights and enforce those rights when they are infringed.