Importance of Establishing Strategies for Intellectual Property Protection

These days it is hard to think of a company that is not somehow linked to intellectual property rights. Even thesmallest companies can identify a link to intellectual property rights in some manner, either through their use of atrademark to identify their products or services, or because, over the passage of time, they have developed theirown technologies that will eventually be the source of new inventions. In any case, it is always a good idea toadopt measures to adequately protect and administer these intangible rights from the start, given that, with thepassage of time, they may become vital sources of competitive advantages or fundamental to the value of thecompany. It is difficult to properly grow a company without a corporate culture that understands and valuesintellectual property rights and knows, in general terms, the proceedings and institutions in charge of protectingsuch rights. The absence of this type of corporate culture is a serious competitive risk for any company. Insimple terms, companies are in search of markets they intend to invest in, beginning at a local level, followed bya national level, and, on occasion, transcending borders, either by importing or exporting goods and services, allwhich must always be attuned to the corporate culture on intellectual property. Otherwise, it is possible that acompany will be at a competitive disadvantage as a result of not protecting its intellectual property.Unfortunately, many companies do not deal with these issues until they are involved in costly and cumbersomelitigation due to their refusal to consider the strategic value of intellectual property rights during the company’sdevelopment. As a result, the adoption of a strategy with respect to intellectual property rights represents afundamental first step in the development and growth of the company, in addition to serving as an effective andpreventive defense for fundamental company assets.