Intellectual property is just one of many considerations that businesses must factor into their growth strategies – but it should never come as an afterthought. In this webinar our global team of IP professionals give you the tips and best practices for using your intangible assets strategically as you scale your business. Whether you sit in the C-suite or the legal department, this three-part installment of our ongoing Lifecylce of a Smart Idea webinar series will help you keep your IP on track and moving as you grow.

In part one, we outlined how to scale your IP strategy along with your business, make the most of commercial agreements involving IP, and get your formal IP assets ready for investment or M&A due diligence audits.

Here are some of our panelists' top tips:

Mathilda Davidson - Legal Director, London, UK

  • Start early on preparing for a sale, investment or partnering process.  Get your IP house in order and it will put you in the best position to tell a great story to the market about your business and the IP that protects it.

Vivian Desmonts - Partner, Guangzhou, China

  • Don't just count on a NDA, do your homework and be mindful of who you are going to work with when sharing your IP, how to share it, what set of written contracts you need and who to turn against when things go wrong.
    For example in China there's been a lot of horror stories with factories or employees stealing technologies, selling confidential information to competitors or tweaking technologies then register the IP in their own name. It can be scary at times, but a lot has changed over the last few years, this can be managed.

Paul Armitage - Partner, Vancouver, Canada

  • Every deal is negotiable and different. Understand the rights needed by both parties, agreements can be tailored to meet both parties' specific needs – this is particularly the case for IP, since IP rights by their nature are severable and can be divided in various ways, such as the rights granted (e.g., rights to make, use or sell can be given to different parties), by territory, by field of application, and so forth. There is a lot of flexibility in devising your agreements

Watch the webinar