Building An Intellectual Property Team

The author analyzes the crucial components of a first-class IP management effort, which he says requires three things: 1) A commitment to building relationships among employees, suppliers, and legal, and recognizing that early failure is a necessary element of an innovation; 2) Commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; 3) A culture of creation, innovation, risk-taking and flexibility. He stresses the importance of nurturing relationships throughout the company, starting with the CEO and extending to every business unit leader and every board member. A problem that often arises is that many chief intellectual property officers are not fully embedded in business discussions because they speak of unfamiliar issues in an unfamiliar language.