As companies decide where to spend internal investment dollars, GCs and executives need to prioritize technology and intellectual property related to companies’ core businesses. Budgeting and investment decisions should play to companies’ strengths. In a slow economy, executives and legal departments should say “no” to speculative projects and seek to further enhance the quality, value and depth of core business technology.
By safeguarding core business technology through IP protection, companies create additional barriers to competitors entering the market. Companies that develop innovative technology and seek IP protection before competitors do make it more difficult for those competitors to emulate products based on the core technology. Failing to protect core business technology puts companies at risk of competing for sales based on commodity-type pricing.
