Do you develop technology as an independent contractor? Here’s how you should think about defining your IP ownership, assignments, and licenses

There are a lot of moving parts when you start working together with another party on joint research & development or in an independent contractor relationship. One of the trickiest aspects is defining who will own the IP developed during the engagement. In fact, the IP ownership question can dictate the value of the contract or, alternatively, kill the deal if the parties can’t agree on a mutually acceptable approach.

Here is a list of options to help you think about several of the ways IP can be developed, owned, assigned, and licensed during an independent contractor or joint R&D project.

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Intellectual Property Strategy – An Integrated Approach to Aligning your IP Assets with your Business Strategy

What is an Integrated Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy?

In the broadest sense, an Integrated IP Strategy refers to a comprehensive strategy that accounts for the specific details of a particular entity and its IP opportunities. This will be different for every company, creator, and IP owner because strategy is, in its very essence, built on market and resource heterogeneity, rather than homogeneity. Consequently, the optimal IP strategies for two different entities, technologies, market, or even business divisions within the same company will uniquely correlate with those circumstances that are unique to each situation.

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Four of the Fastest Fixes for your Patent Portfolio

Everyone is in crisis mode right now. Even businesses that are doing still generating acceptable revenues should recognize these turbulent times as an opportunity to implement a couple quick fixes to your patent portfolio. In case your portfolio growth has been lacking direction lately and growing without enough direction and deliberation, here are a few of the fastest ways to begin right-sizing your portfolio and controlling your costs.

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