What the Heck is IP, Anyway?

When you spend every day immersed in a topic, it is easy to assume that key concepts are widely understood. In the course of proselytizing about the importance of turning your expertise into intellectual property, I have come to realize that what constitutes intellectual property, also known as IP, is still a bit of a headscratcher for many people.

Since I run a business called “Think Beyond IP”, let me explain.

In the broadest of terms, Cornell Law School describes IP as “any product of the human intellect that the law protects from unauthorized use by others.”

The four types of IP are patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. For our expertise-based businesses, the IP tends to be in the areas of copyright (e.g., written materials), trade secrets (e.g., proprietary systems and processes), and trademarks (e.g., business name).

Intellectual property is the product of your intellect. Intellectual property law grants you the most secure form of exclusivity--the legal monopoly to profit from it.

When you have properly documented and protected your IP, no one else can sell it, use it, copy it, make derivatives of it or distribute it without your permission.

Capturing the value of your IP requires (i) proper documentation and protection, in order to (ii) control and get paid for its use.

Yes, documentation and protection include registration with the copyright and trademark offices. But before we even get there, we need to make sure you own it.

The crucial first step that cannot be skipped => CONTRACTS.

Contracts with your clients, limiting their ability to reuse or disseminate your proprietary materials.

Contracts with your subcontractors, assigning rights to everything they deliver to you.

All this is to say that I want you to think beyond the popular culture idea of intellectual property as the big things like software, courses, and books.

As you deliver and accept services, IP accumulates into a body of work. Of course, the big things like courses and books, but also all of the everyday things, like client deliverables and the work you pay a subcontractor for.

So here is how I want you to think about IP: IP is your body of work as an expert. It is the cumulative product of your intellect.

Have questions? Send me a message.