Do not neglect the IP integrated into a supply chain

“A marked change in multinational business models, with local business giving way to regional and global supply chain models, and with decisions increasingly being made at international level to facilitate accepted tax structures, all have an impact on the need to carefully locate and protect IP,” says Jackie Maguire of Coller IP Management.

Much as with organizations as a whole, there are at a minimum three key steps to managing IP in supply chains:

1)     Identify and value the IP;

2)     Protect the IP that has material (to the organization) value; and

3)     Develop monetization strategies to maximize the IP value.

Manufacturing rights, distribution rights, rights to sell and resell, etc., are rights that need to be managed.