Intellectual Property: The Tough New Realities That Could Make or Break Your Business

by Paul Goldstein

The definitive guide to intellectual property for business managers  

How can a product of the mind—an innovation, a song, a logo, a business secret—become the subject of precise property rights? No idea is entirely original; every innovative business borrows, sometimes extensively, from its competitors and others. So how do we draw the line between fair and unfair use? 

Billions of dollars ride on that question, as do the fates of publishers, software producers, drug companies, advertising firms, and many others. It’s also a key question for individuals—for instance, if you quit your job after mastering the company’s secrets, what can you do with that information? 

With the growth of the internet and global markets, having a smart IP strategy is more essential than ever. Intellectual Property is the ideal book for non-lawyers who deal with patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights—all essential business issues that have changed rapidly in the last few years. 

Goldstein draws on dozens of fascinating case studies, from the Polaroid vs. Kodak battle to Kellogg’s surprising trademark suit against Exxon to whether a generic perfume is allowed to smell exactly like Chanel No. 5. 

Every business decision that involves IP is also a legal decision, and every legal decision is also a business decision. Lawyers and managers need to work together to navigate these murky waters, and this book shows how.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 8, 2007

About the author

Paul Goldstein is a writer, lawyer, and the Lillick Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. His novel "Havana Requiem" received the 2013 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.

Series:
* Michael Seeley Mystery

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goldstein carefully organizes and then presents his material within seven chapters, followed by a “Sources” section (Pages 209-231) for those who wish to obtain additional information about one or more issues addressed in a given chapter. As Goldstein points out, “In this book I will examine the most important forms of intellectual property, using legal studies to illustrate routes to success and failure in managing legal risk and extracting value from these assets. I will also shine a light on the underlying forces of change that make intellectual property so challenging as a business asset.”

He addresses questions such as these:

What are the most important forms of intellectual property?

Which “routes to success and failure in managing legal risk” should be carefully considered?

How to extract value from IP assets?

What are the underlying forces of change that make IP so challenging as a business asset?

Why are the risks and rewards of intellectual assets no less manageable than those of other business activities?

Which management tools can be most helpful to managing intellectual assets?

As Goldstein explains in his Introduction, “The central lesson of this book is that every decision involving intellectual assets is ultimately a legal decision, and that every legal decision is at bottom a business decision. If intellectual property is economically too important to be left to lawyers, it is also too legally charged to be left to managers.” They must work effectively together to ensure that all business decisions are legally sound and that all legal decisions support the given enterprise in terms of its objectives, strategy, and performance.

What Goldstein offers in this volume (especially to C-level executives without formal training in law) is a remarkably thorough briefing on legal fundamentals (i.e. parameters, perils, relative advantages and disadvantages, and possible implications) at a time when there are so many trends in progress or emerging, notably increasing exploitation abroad of all forms of intellectual property as well as the decline of the ratio of U.S. receipts to payments. From his perspective, these and other trends point to a single fact: “ although the United States may not soon revert to its nineteenth-century status as a net importer of intellectual assets, the intellectual trade margins it enjoyed during the latter part of the twentieth-century will probably continue to decline in the twenty-first century. Thomas Friedman’s shrewd generalization that ‘the world is flat’ applies as directly to the production of intellectual goods as it does to other goods and services.” For decision-makers who are now struggling to understand the “tough new realities” that could make or break their organizations, Goldstein’s brilliant book is a “must read.

[Firecooked · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a excellent primer on IP, with well written explanations (including history and examples) of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. For this alone, its worth a read by anyone new to IP. In addition, it provides direction of protection for each of these property rights due to globalization, the internet, and current business practices.

For IP rights, the lawmakers (Congress and the courts) strike a balance between too little information produced (because of no protection) and too little being used (overprotective rights). The balance has changed back and forth over time. There are two opposing industry forces today – drug companies pushing for stronger protection vs the high tech industry pushing for weaker protection. It gives good background on trolls, including the abuses of the Lemelson suits. The author predicts that the patent system is poised to cut back on protection due to the growth of patent litigation.

The author seems quite reputable (Professor at Stanford Law) and has written several books on IP (including a couple of lawbooks and one fictional novel).

[Kin Guan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually I have only read half the book because I am only interested in the patent part of the book. Well written, lots of real case studies to illustrate the important yet unclear territory of intellectual property field. A good read if you like to know more about IP at a beginner level.

[Lori Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A should-read book on licensing and pricing for the knowledge worker, manager, executive, or entrepreneur.