IPL 8 - IP in Business PDF

**Takeaways** **The world\'s most valuable enterprises are driven by intangible assets.** **SWOT analysis is a management tool that can be used to assess a company\'s IP position.** **There are various ways to extract value from IP, including working the IP, licensing, franchising, cross-licensin...

**Takeaways** **The world\'s most valuable enterprises are driven by intangible assets.** **SWOT analysis is a management tool that can be used to assess a company\'s IP position.** **There are various ways to extract value from IP, including working the IP, licensing, franchising, cross-licensing, collaboration, sale, collateralization, and securitization.** **IP due diligence is crucial in business deals to identify relevant IP issues and assess the value and risks associated with the IP.** **Key considerations in a company\'s innovation cycle include revenue streams, growth opportunities, and access to IP in real-life scenarios.** Andrew Yip (00:01.122) Having learnt about the different IP rights, we now cover a practical topic that applies your knowledge of these rights. Andrew Yip (00:13.176) Today\'s lecture is about IP in business. Most of the time when we study IP, it is in a legal context. Here, we want to expose you to the practical workings of IP issues in a business context, which is probably the most relevant to your clients. The broad principle you must know is that the world\'s most valuable enterprises are driven by intangible assets. The usual suspects, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Tesla from the technology space are up there on the list. What is also noteworthy is that number two on the list is an oil company and the healthcare sector has three companies making the list at numbers seven, eight and In Singapore\'s context, here are the top 10 most valuable brands. Many of these brands are very familiar to us. So let\'s start with the first competency, the SWOT analysis, which requires you to identify strengths and weaknesses of a company\'s IP position, as well as opportunities and threats. In other words, the SWOT analysis. By the end of this course, you should be very familiar with the acronym SWOOT, what it stands for, and how to use it. So SWOT analysis is a management tool that can be used in different settings. In these few slides, I\'ll first speak generally and not only in relation to a company\'s IP position to give you a broad idea of how it works first. And I will incorporate the IP specific points as well. So the SWOT analysis can be done on a range of subjects. It can be the whole industry. It can be a specific company. It can be a part of a company such as a product line. So you can imagine a conglomerate with different product and service lines. So it can do SWOT analysis on one specific line. Andrew Yip (02:30.528) or it could be a splice of a company, for example, the IP position and even individuals for personal improvement. So after this, could also for practice do a sort of analysis on yourself at this important juncture in your life. Yeah. So anyway, strengths and weaknesses are internal, whereas opportunities and threats are external. So this is an important distinction to bear in mind because Sometimes people get confused between strengths and opportunities and weaknesses and threats. So strengths and weaknesses are internal and opportunities and threats are external to the subject of the study. So each swap point can carry a different weight and be prioritized differently, which affects the strategies eventually adopted. So let\'s look at strengths. In essence, it\'s what a company is good at. What distinguishes this company from its competitors? So some examples of strengths are a strong balance sheet, motivated employees, unique patented technology, which serves a market demand, and strong branding that commands a premium. Here\'s of all these. examples of strengths. As for weaknesses, when we talk about weaknesses, we are looking at what prevents a company from being better, from doing better, where a company needs to improve. So what are some examples? Poor cash flow, unstable supply chain, as we saw during the years of the COVID pandemic, leaks in confidential information. and the fact that the company did not take steps to protect its key IP. So all these can be possible weaknesses of a company. Andrew Yip (04:39.65) When we look at opportunities, we consider favorable external factors that could give a company a competitive advantage. So some examples include impending tariff cuts in the targeted export market, government subsidies to develop a certain area of technology. So for example, if a government wants to encourage people to develop green technology to address the challenges food scarcity and climate change, the government could develop a scheme to give subsidies to such companies who do R &D and investment in this area of green technology. So that\'s an example. Another opportunity could be new consumer trends, creating a new demand, a new market. Further, another opportunity could be simply being able use an international filing scheme to efficiently obtain IP protection in multiple countries of interest. when we talk about that, we think about things like Madrid Protocol for the ease of registering trademarks all over the world. So these are examples of opportunities. How about threats? These are external factors that could potentially harm a company. So examples include the rising cost of material for manufacturing, the scarcity of skilled labor, increasing competition, being in a sunset industry, a change in IP posture in some countries, So for that, can just think about Russia, disregarding the IP rights of companies, foreign companies like McDonald\'s and Starbucks during its war on Ukraine at this time. Here, so these are all examples of threats. The SWOT analysis is usually done in a grid with four boxes to be filled in like this. Basically, ask yourself two things, whether the issue is internal or external. Andrew Yip (07:01.312) and whether it is positive or negative. After the basic SWOT analysis has been done, that\'s not the end of the story. The company has to follow up with strategies to address what the study discloses. So for example, if you look at the intersection of strengths and opportunities, here are the questions that you should ask. In terms of strengths and opportunity strategies, How can you use the company\'s strengths to maximize the opportunities? Secondly, how can you harness the opportunities to augment the company\'s strengths? As we got strengths and threats, you should think about how you can use the company\'s strengths to mitigate the threats. And for weaknesses and opportunities, how can you minimize the company\'s weaknesses using the opportunities identified? And how can you overcome the company\'s weaknesses to realize the opportunities? And finally, for weaknesses and threats, how can you minimize the company\'s weaknesses to avoid the threats identified? So these are the questions that you should ask your clients as a lawyer after the sort analysis has been conducted. The discussion should proceed along these lines. Okay, so that\'s an introduction to the SWOT analysis. We move on quickly now to the second competency for IP in business. And this is about ways to extract value from IP. So IP is not just for IP sake. You can\'t just develop the IP and then sit on it and do nothing. It\'s actually your servant. Okay, speaking from an enterprise perspective, the IP is the servant that should serve the owner, the master. Andrew Yip (09:03.566) So what are some ways to extract value from IP? There are five main ways, and we\'ll go through them in turn. So the most direct one is working the IP. So note that you don\'t strictly need to register your IP in order to work it, in order to do what it is that you do with the IP. The rights conferred exclusionary rights to prevent others from working the IP rather than to give your company the rights to work in. So IP rights are monopolistic in nature and maintain barriers to entry and therefore you can enjoy a premium on the exclusivity on your goods and services arising from these rights. So what are some examples of exploiting the IP by working in? So the first one in this slide, can see applying your trademark or registered design to your goods for sale. And because of that, you can charge a premium. Second example, applying your patented technology to make or do something. You can obviously generate revenue from working the IP. Otherwise, the company would not be doing it. if it\'s loss making and they don\'t expect to make profits from it. In working the IP, in that process, you build brand and customer loyalty. And you also maintain barriers to entry based on the exclusive rights in the IP. So in short, that\'s working the IP the most directly, the easiest to understand for statutes. Then we have licensing, which is a big part in extracting value from IP. So basically, if you as an IP owner do not work the IP, you can also let others do so. So a very good example is this National Skin Centre. For example, you should create the content in the link here to find out more. if you know anyone who suffers from eczema, Andrew Yip (11:29.774) chances are that person would have heard of SOOBAM developed by the National Skin Centre in Singapore. So the R &D people at National Skin Centre came up with SOOBAM which turned out to be very effective for eczema patients in Singapore. The problem was they are in effect a hospital or a skin centre, treating people with skin problems, that is their core work. So it\'s not really up their alley to further develop this soo balm that they came up with to commercialize it and then to sell it to a larger group of eczema sufferers besides national skin center patients. So what happened is that license it up to another farmer, to a pharmaceutical player who can actually do the job to manufacture it, to distribute it, to reach more people who need the product. So licensing and working with the IP are not mutually exclusive. If you already work the IP, you can let others work it as well concurrently. So what\'s the difference between the two? If you work your IP, your revenue is from selling the goods and services to which the IP is applied. If you license your IP, your revenue is from license fees and royalties. So I hope you see the difference clearly between the two. When talking about licensing, we also need to be very clear about the differences between a non -exclusive, a sole, and an exclusive license. So the broadest kind of license would be non -exclusive license, which means there can be more than one licensee. And everybody is licensed to work the IP. How about B, sole license? A sole license is understood as there being only one licensee. And contrast this with Andrew Yip (13:56.242) exclusive. In an exclusive license, it means that not only is there only one licensee, the licensor itself is excluded from being able to work the IP. So in a sole license, it could be that the licensee is in a position of competition with the licensor because the licensor can also work the IP. Whereas in an exclusive license, there is no competition between the licensure and the licensee because the licensee is an exclusive one and exclusive to the exclusion of all others, including the licensure. And this is important under the section on IP litigation as well when we talk about who has locus tendai to sue for infringement. So I\'ll leave you to read that yourself. When we talk about licensing, we are also concerned about the consideration, how the money matters are settled, to put it in a very layman way that your clients can understand. So if you look at the last point on this slide, it could be a fully paid up license fee at one shot from the licensee to the licensor. B, it could be a running royalty, which means commonly is a percentage cut from the licensees revenue generated. Yeah, so it could be like whatever percentage they agree on for each month or every six months or every year. Yeah, whatever it is. Or it could be C, which is a combination of an upfront license fee first and then a running royalty. Okay, so it could be an upfront license fee. Andrew Yip (15:56.504) for X dollars for the first six months. So this gives the licensee some breathing room to set up his operations before he can start selling. And then you could say then from the seventh month onwards, you\'ll be a running royalty of whatever X, Y, Z rate per month, something like that. Okay. Andrew Yip (16:22.478) Franchising is a very special specific kind of licensing. It\'s a special business setup that involves the licensing of IP and IE. So in essence, franchisor grants to a franchisee rights to sell a product or provide a service using the franchisee business system. I\'ll leave you to read the definition. by the International Franchise Association for a few seconds. Andrew Yip (17:13.846) Okay, so you got the essence of it. Again, in layman\'s terms, when you talk to your clients, this is like a business in your bank. So you just grab the business in the bank, you know, and go on and use your own resources to develop that business in the bank, following the instructions from the franchisor. Yeah. So the ideal position is that you enjoy strong branding and reputation for your business system, such that prospective naturally gravitate towards you to ask for a franchise. And of course, they pay you the franchise fee and that\'s how you extract value from your So the most or one of the most famous examples of franchising would be McDonald\'s. So this started all the way back in the USA by a businessman called Ray Kroc. And he started a franchise of a hamburger stand. And he was very creative. He brought an assembly line like concept to the fast food industry. And he had the belief McDonald\'s customers should have an idea of what to expect wherever in the world they are. So a McDonald\'s cheeseburger should taste the same, whether it is in Beijing or Boston. It doesn\'t matter as long as consumers see the brand McDonald\'s. There are food items, maybe chicken McNuggets or filet -o -fish or cheeseburgers should taste the same. And that\'s why this business in the back concept will contain many instructions, specific recipes or mixes that are to be used and things like that so that the quality of the food is controlled. Quality not only as in like clean or not clean, but quality as in how does it taste? What kind of oil do you fry the fries in? Because it could turn out tasting very different if you use different kinds of oils. So things like that. Andrew Yip (19:21.47) And another well -known example would be the Krispy Kreme donuts. That\'s also a very easy to identify franchise. Closer to Singapore, we have this edu -tech company called I Can Read. It offers an ability -based program to teach students how to acquire reading skills. Part of its strategy is to franchise its learning centers in overseas markets like China, where after school learning is huge. So I\'ll leave you to read this slide on your own. And we move on to cross licensing. So when we talk about licensing, we also have this distinct concept of cross licensing, where two or more parties licenses each owns IP rights to the other parties, typically in the context of patents. And this can be between collaborators or competitors. The consideration is not mainly in the money, but in the mutual licenses. So it\'s not so much as A, licenses, B, its patents in exchange for B paying AX dollars. That would be a normal license scenario. But this will be A licenses B is pattern X in exchange for B licensing A is pattern Y. So this happens usually between companies who own patterns over different aspects of a product. Andrew Yip (21:10.796) Most businesses do not want to spend undue resources on litigation. If your competitor also thinks the same way and has IP which your product uses and you have IP which is of interest to your competitor, cross licensing may be useful to litigate less and to compete more on the basis of products. So basically, as this slide says, it gives the respective licensees freedom to operate they are able to avoid infringement and litigation and the high cost of litigation, right? Whether we win or lose, the cost will be spent. So the famous example you should know is the Google Samsung example where Google developed Android software and Samsung is the leading maker of smartphones that run on Android. So they entered into a broad license to cross license a range of patents. This covered existing patents as well as some that would be found in the next 10 years. Andrew Yip (22:22.898) And you can read the quotes here from Google and Samsung yourself to understand how important it was to them and what was their thinking behind entering into this cross -license agreement. Andrew Yip (22:42.594) Okay, so now we move on to collaboration and joint venture. These are loose terms, Just talk about how parties can work together in the area of IP and IA. Okay, it can, it\'s not distinct from the other types of exploitation that we are covering today. So cross licenses, for example, may be present. in collaboration so both parties provide their background IP in order for the collaboration to develop new IP. Andrew Yip (23:29.72) So I\'ll leave you to read the examples on this slide. Okay, on what are the possibilities for collaboration or joint venture. So the essence of it is that each party has something to bring to the table and together the parties can bring forth something that is worth more than the sum of its parts. Okay, so like a farmer company with a new drug, that cannot be taken orally can collaborate with a company that develops a nasal spray delivery system or an R &D collaboration between a non -profit research institution and a commercial entity which is expected to result in new IP products. Andrew Yip (24:20.138) OK, so just now I mentioned background IP, right? And you may be wondering what that is about. OK, so now I want to introduce you to these terms properly. It\'s important for you to know them. K, Andrew Yip (24:40.654) Before I go on, thanks, Jesha Ho. You have just asked a question. In the instance of the joint venture developing new IP, who will own the new IP? So that is one of the very pertinent questions that the parties in a joint venture collaboration need to ask and negotiate who owns the new IP. So I hope you understand that question. So when two collaborative partners come together, right, it\'s very likely that they will come up with new IP. So to prevent disputes down the road, your contract should already specify how that new IP is to be owned. So it could be one party holds it or both parties jointly hold or whichever party that comes up with the money owns it but licenses it for free to the other party. So there are many possible permutations. So it is for the parties to negotiate commercially at arm\'s length to pinpoint what is the ownership arrangement for the new IP. So thanks for that very good question, Joshua. It\'s a practical question that is important to clients. Okay, so back to background IP. This is IP that already exists and is supplied by collaboration partners at the start of the project. So basically it\'s what each party brings to the table, right? At the start. Then foreground IP is IP that is produced under the collaboration during the project. Okay, so one example of foreground IP would be new IP that the parties collaborate on and come up with under the contract. And it is relevant to the purpose of their collaboration. Then SiteGround IP is IP that is relevant to the project but produced outside of the scope of the collaboration by any partner during the project. So that\'s why it\'s site, you see, because Andrew Yip (27:04.01) is outside the scope of the contracted collaboration. And post -ground IP is IP that is relevant to the project produced by any partner after the end of the project. So these are different interesting ways to categorize IP. And the most important ones that you must know will be A and B, background and foreground IP. So you have to be clear on the treatment of the relevant IP, especially who will own the foreground IP. Any questions on this? If you have any questions on this, feel free to type it into the chat box. Andrew Yip (27:55.982) Okay, if not, then we move on. Andrew Yip (28:07.342) Okay, when we talk about sale, it\'s also a very understandable concept in how to extract value from IP. It gives the seller immediate returns. Usually people sell IP that is not of interest or no longer of interest to the seller. So this is called non -core IP. So for example, in the course of R &D, The scope of R can be quite broad. So because you are basically exploring and trying to answer the final solution for a technical problem. And who knows, you could come up with something else that is interesting, but it is non -core to your company. So it\'s IP that won\'t be worked by the company anyway. So one option to abstract value will be just to sell it off. Other scenarios include bankruptcy. So that\'s the Kodak example. Because Kodak, the film company, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. It had a fire sale and it sold about 1 ,100 patents for a princely sum of 5 to 5 million US dollars. Still short of the 2.6 billion target. but it needed money urgently to get out of bankruptcy. And finally, it emerged from bankruptcy in 2013. So that\'s one example where the sale helped a struggling company to get back on track out of bankruptcy. Then the next example would be the Yahoo Verizon example. Verizon had acquired Yahoo\'s internet and media business, including some of its IP. And then later on, SoftBank. So SoftBank is this Japanese company, It\'s one of the collaboration partners of this entity of business called Yahoo Japan. So the SoftBank subsidiary. Andrew Yip (30:30.874) pays Verizon. Verizon had already acquired Yahoo\'s IP and then SoftBank subsidiary pays Verizon to buy over the trademark rights relating to Yahoo and Yahoo Japan in Japan. And a paid up perpetual right to use existing licensed technology in Japan. Yeah, so this is one way to sell So from Verizon\'s perspective, this is one way to make money by selling off trademark rights relating to Yahoo Japan, as well as Yahoo in Japan. Because it\'s not likely to be very useful to it. And if SoftBank wants to buy over it and work it and can pay enough for it, then all the better, To a certain extent, the difference between a license and a sale is not that great. But here are some points. A licensor has a future interest in the IP, whereas a seller would have parted ways with the IP after it sells it. Secondly, a licensor can usually get less money upfront compared to an outright sale. but his income stream is spread out over time. In contracts, a seller can usually sell his IP for more money upfront. So it depends, it\'s situational and you should be in a position to advise your clients on all these considerations. Should I sell, should I license? What are the things that your clients should know? Sometimes a licensee takes a license first. to assess risk in the early days. And then if it works out well, the licensee can end up buying the IP. So from a license, it becomes a sale because the licensee is more confident of the IP and then decides, okay, I\'m as well just buy it up and stop paying license fees or something like that, right? Yeah. So the prospective buyer needs to think about whether it has the know -how. Andrew Yip (32:58.15) to make and to work the IP that it buys. It should think beyond acquiring the legal title to the IP to very practical things like the advantage of buying over the company that owns the IP so that you can also tap on the existing human resources and expertise, the existing supply chains, etc. when you buy the company that owns the IP, as opposed to just buying the IP from the company that owns the IP. So I hope the distinction is clear to you. You can take time to think about it. Andrew Yip (33:48.41) And finally, we come to the last main way of extracting value from IP. So collateralization and securitization. So in simple terms, it\'s asset -based lending to raise money, in fact. So under IP collateralization, it is a method of financing where an IP asset is used as a collateral to secure a loan. analogize it to like buying real property, buying a condominium, and then you get a mortgage, right? So in order to get a bank loan. So if the borrower defaults on the loan, the lender may sell the IPS to offset the loss. Whereas in IP securitization, it is a method of financing where rights in receivables such as royalties transferred from IP owners to an entity, which in turn issues securities to capital market investors and then passes the proceeds back to the IP owners. So the most famous example of this are the Bowie bonds. You can just do an internet search if you want to find out more about this. But basically David Bowie struck gold in the capital markets. by issuing the first ever asset securitization involving music, royalty future receivables and the deal netted him \$55 million. Okay, interesting, right? Andrew Yip (35:30.286) Okay, but there is some risk in this way of extracting value. For example, the IP or IA may not retain its value. So the lender may lose out if at the time that it needs to sell the asset to offset the loss, right, the value has dropped since the time of the contract. Also, IP may\... not have a set pattern regarding its market behavior. So it\'s more complicated to value IP and IA. And because IP IA is so unique, it tends to take longer to sell off than traditional assets like real property land. So these are some of the upsides and potential drawbacks. of this way of extracting value from IP. Okay, so now let\'s quickly in the final minutes of this lecture cover the third competency, which is to identify relevant issues in IP dues and due diligence. Andrew Yip (36:45.614) Okay, so in this story, a real life story, Volkswagen bought the assets of Rolls Royce and Bentley automobiles for around 900 million US dollars. It was not until after the deal closed that Volkswagen realized the IP assets it paid for did not include the right to use the Rolls Royce trademark. So the Rolls Royce trademark was owned by BMW instead Volkswagen. therefore acquired all the rights needed to make a Rolls Royce car, but not the right to brand it as one. So that was really terrible. And the moral of the story, I\'ll leave it to you to conclude for yourself, having learned what you have so Andrew Yip (37:36.782) Okay, so IP due diligence in IP deals is very important. You don\'t even just have to think of it in an IP context, although the Rolls Royce example is an IP specific example, but even in corporate deals in &A due diligence is very important, even though it\'s very labor intensive work, but you should know why it\'s important and why you have to do Especially if you are starting out in your legal practice as a practice trainee or as a first year or as a junior associate, it\'s quite likely that you\'ll be tapped on to do due diligence because your charge out rates are lower, but you should do it intelligently and purposefully. Okay, so what is the context of IP deals and due diligence? Here are some examples, license negotiations, sale, merger or acquisition or joint venture. Okay, so that is a distinct process for this. So step one, identify the relevant IP and IP agreements. Step two, determine the status of each IP and IP agreement. And step three, assess any limitation and encumbrance that may affect the value of the IP or the value of the IP agreement. So this is a fictitious and simplistic example. Suppose your company is interested in collaborating with a business who has just bought a patent for a particular technology. And so you conduct due diligence. So according to the steps, right? Step one, identify the relevant IP and IP agreements. So you come out with this table, you identify the IP, this is patent number XYZAC. And what about your agreements? Okay, you spot agreement between ABC and DEF data such and such. So you have done the first step of identification. Then second step, determine the status of each IP and IP agreement. yeah, by the way, the slides that you are seeing on Zoom are different from the earlier circulated slides because I\'ve added on to the titles, right? So it\'s pattern. Andrew Yip (40:01.26) number XYZ and it\'s a specific sale agreement, not just any sale agreement. So you need to be specific, and that\'s that one in identification. So now we are at step two. What is the status? So for the IP status, like the pattern in this case, you should read the pattern information on the patterns register. For the sale agreement on the right, you should read the sale agreement provided by your prospective business partner and then you note down the, you list down the noteworthy points. So for the patent, you must note down the basic things like which jurisdiction does it pertain to? Okay, it\'s Singapore. Okay. And does that accord with Singapore, right? Okay. When does it expire? So factual things like that. And then aren\'t there any annotations on the patents register? So in this case, it is fictitious case. you see that the Patents Register recourse a license. Then how about the sale agreement? You notice that there is no provision for the seller to give warranties and indemnities. So that\'s a red light. You notice that the name of the seller in agreement does not match the name of the previous owner on the Patents Register. So remember, this is a case of your prospective business partner, buying a pattern and then wanting to work with you in a collaboration. Yeah, but it seems that the name of the seller is inconsistent in different documents. And then you, thirdly, you notice that this sale agreement is subject to the law of country X and not subject to the law of Singapore. So we move on to the third step, assess any limitation and encumbrance that may affect the value of the IP. So based on what you noted down in step two, you have to then analyze whether it\'s cause for concern to your clients. So this pattern is granted in Singapore, but Andrew Yip (42:19.182) Your client plans to sell the product in China besides Singapore. Yeah. So is there something else that your client needs to do, needs to check with the prospective collaboration partner? Ask whether it has a similar pattern in China. Okay. Then you find out it expires in 2023, which is just next year, but you will need six months at least. to set up the plant in China. So is there really any point if the lifespan of the pattern is very short, it expires next year, by the time you set up the plant, may not, the pattern may have expired or you will only be left with part of the year to work the pattern. So is it worth it? And the patterns register records the license already, which means there is already a licensee out there. for this same patent. Are you prepared to compete with a licensee? So that\'s something to consider also. Okay, so it\'s a whole basket of different factors. And then in the background, of course, is the price, the price of the collaboration is the price that your client is gonna pay worth all these considerations and encumbrances. How about the sale agreement? Your due diligence could lead to questions as in this example, and then you have to follow up on the questions and decide whether what you realistically get is worth the due. So is the pattern valid to the best of the seller\'s belief? Since there is no clause for the seller to give warranties and indemnities, What if it turns out that the pattern is actually invalid? So for example, it could be not novel, it could be not evented, and it could be invalidated when the owner tries to enforce it against infringers. So that\'s a point of difficulty. Did the seller even have authority to sell your target collaborator the pattern? Andrew Yip (44:46.06) Because the name in the sale agreement does not match the name of the previous owner on the patent register, right? So there is a break in the chain of title in terms of the identity of the patent owner. So that is a red flag that is a great cause of concern. You should really check with your target collaborator what\'s going on. Will there be problems enforcing the agreement under foreign law, since it\'s subject to the law of country X and not Singapore? So this is not a deal breaker, but it means that you have to be aware of it, advise a client, and maybe take advice from foreign legal counsel in country acts to advise you on enforcing the sale agreement under the law of that country. So in real life, you will probably use a structured form or checklist and look at the IP more comprehensively. Today\'s examples are to introduce you to IP due diligence and the gist of what to look out for. So you have some idea. So the issues can be broadly categorized into these six buckets, who, what, when, where, why, and how. So just keep them handy at the back of your head. Andrew Yip (46:15.064) So today you\'ve learned about these three competencies under IP in business. And as you take time to digest, here are the key considerations in a company\'s innovation cycle. These are the issues and the questions relevant when thinking about IP in business. So as a lawyer dealing with corporate clients, commercial entities, you should be alive to these issues, which are very real to companies and businesses because it affects their very survival, what is the revenue stream. It affects their growth opportunities for the future. So here are some resources on how IP can be used in real life scenarios. I\'ll leave you to read them your own time. very easy to read, key considerations for SMEs. And also the second one, very close to heart, very current issue, improving access to COVID -19 treatments and how IT makes it possible. Okay, so with that, I hope that you enjoy and learn well in the rest of this IPP module. And We will end this lecture. Time is up and I don\'t want to hold you back either. And we will see each other again at the end course lecture where I will talk to you about your exams and how to prepare for it and how to do well in it in a nutshell. Okay, so your next practice session will be on copyright and IP litigation. So prepare for that and learn from it as well. So that\'s all for today. B24 IPL - IP in business - SOWT analysis - SO Strategies: Use your strengths to take advantage of opportunities. This can involve leveraging your strengths to enter new markets or launching new products. ST Strategies: Use your strengths to mitigate threats. For instance, if you have strong customer loyalty, use it to fend off competitors. WO Strategies: Address weaknesses to exploit opportunities. If you lack a certain capability but see an opportunity, invest in training or resources to fill the gap. WT Strategies: Minimize weaknesses to avoid threats. If you\'re facing a potential threat and have a weakness that could exacerbate it, take immediate steps to strengthen that area. - Extracting value from IP - ▪ Working the IP - ▪ Licensing - Franchising - Crosss-licensing - ▪ Collaboration / Joint Venture - ▪ Sale - ▪ Collateralisation / Securitisation - Due diligence Company innovation cycle