Intellectual property was created to offer all companies, whether small or large, an exclusive right over their intangible assets; it is considered by some to be the fundamental lever for development.
What is intellectual property?
This term is intended to indicate all intellectual creations resulting from human inventiveness and ingenuity.
In law, this is a concept that has acquired increasing economic importance over time, becoming one of the most significant areas of law itself.
In fact, the law grants creators and inventors a true monopoly on the exploitation of their creations/inventions and places certain legal tools in their hands to protect themselves against potential abuses by unauthorized parties.
It is, therefore, a reward recognized for human creative/inventive activity which, on one hand, aims to attribute ownership of the work to its author. On the other hand, once authorship is recognized, it allows the author to exploit the economic income generated, ensuring adequate remuneration for intellectual work and the investments made.
Rights to intellectual creations aim to protect any human idea and its expressions of creativity, such as artistic and literary works, industrial inventions and utility models, designs, and trademarks.
Consequently, the possibilities and fields of application are infinite.
Intellectual property to foster progress
We live in a historical period characterized by changes in global economic balances, a sharp reduction in production costs, and increasingly fierce competition. Works of ingenuity, creativity, and innovation can clearly contribute to our country's competitiveness and the penetration of businesses into complex markets different from our own.
The phenomenon of globalization brings new and greater risks for those doing business, but at the same time, it opens the door to incredible opportunities for those who are prepared to seize them by exploiting their potential.
In this context, the protection, enhancement, and exploitation of intangible assets (trademarks, patents, models, designs) can, much more than in the past, contribute to determining the growth or decline of an enterprise, whether large or small, and whether it operates in a high or low labor-intensive sector.
The protection of the fruits of human inventiveness and ingenuity, in reality, proves increasingly strategic for fostering progress and innovation: a new way to produce wealth, to favor progress, and the prosperity of society.
These are rights that contribute, especially in Europe but not only, to concretely supporting economic growth, both in terms of gross domestic product and employment.
Therefore, the promotion of these rights and their protection at an international level, precisely because of these impacts on growth and employment, must be encouraged and supported. Indeed, they represent a valid strategic tool not only for large companies but also for SMEs, which constitute the backbone of our economy.
As proof of the role that intellectual property can play in providing a competitive advantage at an international level, many companies, including Italian ones, have been able to make intangible assets the beating heart of their business, achieving excellent results abroad and, in particular, in emerging markets.
Valuation of one's intangible asset portfolio
Knowledge of one's intangible heritage and the adoption of adequate protection and enhancement strategies in each market are essential factors for the success of companies in a country with a strong vocation for export – like Italy – especially in certain sectors.
For Italy, the offer of innovative products and services is therefore a strength in facing competition from companies that can operate at substantially lower costs. Quality and differentiation, achieved through innovation processes, can be maintained and represent a competitive advantage only if accompanied by rights adequately protected at an international level.
Protecting and exploiting an innovative idea at an international level, transforming it – also through a continuous process of research and development – creates a competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate. When projecting onto foreign markets, it is therefore essential to consider several aspects: firstly, knowing how to perform an initial valuation of the company's intangible assets; then possessing a good knowledge of the opportunities offered by individual markets and their specific critical issues and, above all, knowing what tools are available for the protection of intellectual property.
How to protect intellectual property?
Based on the object of protection, ownership of intellectual creations can be differentiated into:
- Industrial property: specifically aims to protect trademarks, patents, and distinctive signs.
- Author's right (copyright): protection of artistic or literary works, including advertising or television programs, as well as computer products such as software.
- Geographical indications: DOC, DOCG, PGI.
To best protect intellectual property, whatever the object, the advice is to register or patent it (in the case of a patent) with the UIBM (Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi – Italian Patent and Trademark Office).
Registration of a national trademark or patent
Experience teaches us that before proceeding to register a trademark, patent, or any other intellectual creation, it is advisable to observe some fundamental preliminary steps:
- verify that the trademark, patent, design, etc., complies with all legal requirements;
- check for the absence of a similar or identical registered trademark;
- be certain that the trademark does not have negative characteristics in Italy or abroad.
At this point, once these steps have been carried out, the fastest method for submitting the request is certainly the electronic one, aimed at performing the online trademark registration, or relying on competent professionals.
The latter option, in our opinion, seems to be the best choice. Relying on fast and cheap solutions, in fact, is often not the best solution.
In the field of intellectual creations, it has been proven that the wrong choice of a form of protection could even be counterproductive, allowing third parties to copy and counterfeit one's invention/innovation.
This is why it would be wise to carefully evaluate, before carrying out a trademark or patent registration, the potential duration, functions, and characteristics of the trademark or patent.
It is a complex operation that must absolutely be entrusted to those who deal with these matters daily.
A few figures on intellectual property in Italy
In 2018, the International Property Rights Index was presented in Johannesburg. According to this ranking, which takes into account how these rights are protected in more than 125 countries representing approximately 98% of the world's Gross Domestic Product and 93% of the population, Italy is ranked 50th.
This is a rather unflattering figure for our country regarding a subject that is certainly central in other countries.
It is no coincidence, in fact, that the top positions in this ranking are occupied by countries that have always had a strong vocation for innovation, such as the United States, Singapore, Sweden, Norway, Finland (in the lead), and Switzerland.
Conclusions
Intellectual Property encompasses many realities, even different ones, ranging from technological innovation to trademarks, to distinctive design drawings, to Geographical Indications of origin, to related works, and to every field of creativity. This reality must be protected from unfair and dishonest behavior, and the initiative must be structured on several fronts: developing activities to favor what produces innovation, fighting what steals innovation from the legitimate owner, and promoting these innovative capabilities of ours to create an opinion that favors the purchase of products subject to this enrichment.
The concept of Intellectual Property does not contain an idea of staticity but, instead, is something dynamic whose main purpose is to generate direct and indirect competitive value, and whose strength lies in the ability to circulate in the market and in international exchange strategies.
The success of a company necessarily passes through the correct management and exploitation of intellectual property rights on the market.