Corporate IPR Strategy in General

Intellectual property rights are increasingly regarded as a part of a company’s assets. In order to enable efficient administration and retention of the value of the company’s patents, trademarks and copyrights, the management should prepare a corporate IPR strategy, comprising the company’s long-term plans for business-related intellectual property rights.

Intellectual property rights can be divided into copyrights and industrial rights. Copyright arises when the author’s work exceeds the threshold for copyright protection. Industrial rights, on the other hand, generally arise upon registration. For further information, see Intellectual Property Rights in General [Intellectual Property Rights in General].

If a company’s business operations are based on exploitation of intellectual property rights, it is important for the company to clarify internally the objectives and procedures relating to intellectual property rights, and to plan the management of intellectual property rights to ensure that they are exploited in full.