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Patent Strategy Could Be Essential to Your Private Equity Business Plan

A friend of mine recently joined a small, privately-held consumer product company as its innovation manager. The company, which I will call "Cool Stuff," is owned by a private equity firm. The private equity firm purchased Cool Stuff about a year ago. Cool Stuff was essentially an established “mom and pop” company with a core product line. Cool Stuff has a couple of manufacturing facilities, but the primary value of the company is its relationships with existing customers (such as department and grocery stores) that will make it possible for new products to gain shelf space in department stores. The private equity company's payback model centers on growing the sales of Cool Stuff by introduction of several innovative and differentiated new products (hence, the reason for hiring my friend). After these products are shown to provide sustainable profits for Cool Stuff, the private equity firm plans to sell Cool Stuff and

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Your Best Foreign Patent Strategy May Be a Strong U.S. Patent Strategy

Today, it is common for U.S.-based manufacturers to outsource manufacturing of their product line to countries with lower costs. Perhaps your company has already done so. While this business plan can increase short term profit margins, the company outsourcing its manufacturing to a foreign company is also in danger of exchanging these shorter term gains for the long term value embedded in its intellectual property rights. As an IP Strategist and owner of an IP Strategy and Consulting service, I can tell you that a well-thought out patent U.S. patent strategy can be the best protection when a company is engaging foreign manufacturers to make its product. Let’s assume that your company is introducing a consumer gadget in the U.S. Business realities today likely require your company to manufacture the gadget in China and import it into the U.S. This plan makes good financial sense, but you are also likely concerned

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How You Can Be a Top Player in IP in 3 “Easy Steps”

As a forward-thinking business strategist, you will be interested in the reprinted article published in the Summer 2007 Sloan Management Review entitled “Patenting for Profits” (available in this link: sloanreview.mit.edu/wsj/insight/pdfs/48409.pdf). This article, which was written by two partners at Bain & Company, presents a very succinct explanation of the elements needed for a company to become a top player in the IP game. As an IP Strategist and owner of an IP Strategy and Consulting services (more info here: http://www.jackiehutter/, I believe this article clearly lays out the necessary features for your company to create and deploy a patent strategy that will maximize your corporate assets. To summarize this article, as a top player in creating value from patents, you will create and deploy an infrastructure having each of these elements: 1) a strong market focus; 2) a holistic view; and 3) a strong organization. When your organization has a

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Don’t Destroy Your Corporate Asset Value by Outsourcing Responsibility for Managing Your Patent Strategy to Your Attorney

Even though you are a strategic and savvy businessperson, you may not be feel entirely comfortable with the substance and value of your company’s patent portfolio. In the face of this, you may believe that it is better to cede management of your company’s patent strategy to your patent attorneys. You may make this decision even when you would not consider outsourcing management of any other type of valuable corporate asset. Indeed, you likely would not give a moment’s thought to handing off management of any of your company’s valuable assets to a non-businessperson. For example, would you put your attorneys in charge of maximizing the payback of your innovation product pipeline or your business’ account receivables? Of course not. As an IP Strategist and owner of an IP Strategy and consulting company, I can guarantee you that, if your company owns one or more patents that prevent others from knocking

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