The Impactory

Yesterday Pierre Kihn from Office Freylinger hosted a workshop on Intellectual Property at the Impactory. It was a great session taking the participants through all the different types of intellectual property and the laws that regulate them.

Pierre, knows his trade very well, and also how to explain it. Using a simple ball point pen as a case study or example he went through all the main components such as trade secrets, design protection, patent and copyright.

Some highlights were the daunting fact that over a ten year period the share of company values derived from intellectual property has grown from 8% to 80%. This is based on a study by Arthur D Little looking at companies on the S&P 500 list.

Looking at the top 10 list of the most valuable companies in the world one can clearly see that these are companies valued on their intellectual property. Pierre quoted the former head of Coca-Cola who once said that if every plant and bottling operation burnt down he could still rebuild the company based on the high value the brand has.

After the session Pierre spent time with members who had specific questions around their own business and intellectual property. On top of that he also offered a special rate plan exclusive to Impactory members which is of great value to the community. In a start-up situation every cent counts and it is important to get incentives to still make some investments in things that really matter. Intellectual property protection is one of them.