Electronic Signature Licitness for Assignment of Intellectual Property in Canada

How to eSign a document: electronic signature licitness for Assignment of intellectual property in Canada

[Music] welcome to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office as educational video series called intellectual property strategy the problem solvers guide to staying out of trouble in these videos you will learn what an intellectual property strategy is and the steps you can take to develop one for your business step one internal IP audit much of the world's economy has shifted from an industrial economy to an idea economy this means that much of the economy is now based on ideas rather than tangible assets like factories and raw materials in fact based on different studies over 90% of some company's market value can come from intangible assets such as brands and the intelligent designs of hardware and apps in smartphones new medicines and online platforms and so on to be part of this economy you'll need an idea of what your IP is so do an internal IP audit this can be an enlightening step because many discover that their business actually owns IP but they never realized it in fact relatively few Canadian companies hold formal IP and only a fraction of these have a strategy for how to best use it interestingly those that have formal IP are the ones that experience higher growth and are more likely to export and are also more likely to seek finance so the first step towards your IP strategy is to identify your own IP through something we call it internal IP audits freshdesk of the audit is relatively easy just list your formalize IP rates for the second task you should get others to help you you've heard me saying that intellectual property is the creation of the mind so find the creative minds in your company talk with their employees partners advisers and get their input on ideas at creations they think are relevant to your business for example talk to your software developers to see if there's any software that are important to the team talk to your engineers or production team to find out if there are any processes or products which are innovative and were developed in-house talk to your marketing and sales team to determine what brands and logos are being used on your products and services if this is the first time you're taking a look at your own IP I recommend that you take a look at our IP inventory checklist located in our IP toolbox this is a free tool to help you start identifying your IP assets it contains a list with intangible assets your business may have and which IP rights are most suited to protect them you'll find it on Canada CA / IP - toolbox under the factsheet section I know that our IP inventory checklist is one of the most frequently used tools in our IP toolbox it's important to identify our IP since having a solid IP portfolio is like having a set of building blocks to pave your way towards your goals you're absolutely right I'd also like to draw your attention to a couple of very important details in this exercise first of all consider the legal aspects do you own the IP or have a contract to ensure that you can use it the way you intend to if you are receiving funds - for example do research and development it's important that you understand if your sponsors can make legal claims to the results of these activities similarly if you're partnering with other people or companies know if these partners can claim or already have rights to your IP assets second with the business goals in mind think about the value of a time of your IP assets length of protection versus long lasting value of the things that are important to your business think about what creations and inventions make your customers choose your product or service and how much and for how long will you want these to be protected we're going to do gap analysis later but it's a good idea to start thinking about these things early next we're going to talk about how to find out if perhaps someone else has already acquired the IP rights which could be an obstacle or be in our way [Music]