IP World Forum: interview with Danielle Lewensohn, RaySearch Laboratories

How can companies implement effective IP strategies?

The effectiveness of an IP strategy depends on the level of integration of the strategy with the business strategy itself and the underlying business activities. It is also about how company management broadly views the establishment/management of IP rights and to what extent that can be infused into the corporate culture.

I would say it also depends on the actual technology and product development of companies. For instance, if you are a healthcare data-driven business, an IP strategy should be integrated into the overall business strategy, but in this example you need to consider issues related to innovation, privacy, ownership and compliance. All these things are connected and priorities often fall somewhere in between. Effective IP strategies should not prepared in isolation.

How would you prioritise those issues in a business strategy?

As a first priority one needs to know what the business goal is. From there you need to look at all the other issues and how they fit together. You must ask the basic questions, such as: “how should our operations look?” in order to successfully move towards your business goal.

For instance, if you are to push a certain business model involving healthcare data you might be restricted by privacy and ownership requirements, so that rather than disclosing patentable ideas either through the filing of patent applications or publishing scientific publications you might need to keep those ideas as trade secrets.

Prioritisation between these issues will most likely change over time, which is something to keep in mind when it comes to strategising around your IP portfolio.

What global considerations must be made when exporting IP?

From the view of a global actor which is active or pursuing various markets, different approaches to how it exploits IP in a particular market might need to be considered. A company may also, depending on its main markets, want to have a certain IP strategy for those.

As I said earlier, it is necessary to consider the business objectives of today and tomorrow. Additionally, depending on the nature of your business you will want to seek IP protection for the products and services you are selling in a particular market. It could be essential to apply for different IP rights such as trademarks, patents, and designs to be better positioned to exclude others from copying your products and services.

Is there enough protection available to address the changing IP landscape?

If you are referring to a greater focus on intangible assets and data-driven business models, I believe there is a constant need to discuss the interpretation of IP laws. There has also been a change in the past decade in IP legislation, for example more harmonisation across the globe in patent and trademark laws.

The EU directive on biotechnology in 1998 dealt with the patentability of biotechnological inventions. If you followed what happened in the early 1980s with biotechnology you were dealing with a revolution of the paradigm shift where patent laws had to be adapted to what was happening at the technological and business product levels.