The development of Ireland as a major smart economy, which has a thriving innovation-focused enterprise sector and high-quality employment, is a major focus of the government as one of the principal ways in which Ireland can provide economic growth, create jobs and emerge from recession.
The history of Ireland's "smart" revolution shows lots of examples of entrepreneurship coming from our universities and other higher educational institutions. IT companies like Iona Technologies, born in Trinity College Dublin, are a wonderful illustration of how ground breaking technology can emerge from collaborative work and commercialisation between universities and industry. Newer examples include Beemune and Blue Box Sensors, both the result of the commercialisation of intellectual property and technology developed at NUI Maynooth.
Invention is not restricted to higher educational institutions: a lot of companies within the private sector are also focused on research and development (R&D) with a view to making innovative products and services that can be sold. Any company involved with innovation will wish to ensure that it is protected from unjust exploitation by other people. A company's intellectual property may include both registered and unregistered rights.
Registered rights are rights awarded on application to an official body, like the Irish Patents Office. Unregistered rights occur automatically on creation and aren't subject to any registration regime. The main examples of registered rights are patents and trade marks. The main instances of unregistered rights are copyright and confidential information. Patents protect innovations that, among other things, are novel, involve an inventive step and are also susceptible to industrial application. Examples include patents for brand new drugs or even for a new form of tea bag. In 1952, for example, Lipton patented a novel four-sided tea bag. Trade marks are designed primarily to protect a company's brand names or logos. Examples include Vodafone and the slogan Intel Inside.
To protect its innovations, a company should look into contractual protections or "assignments" with its employees, contractors and third parties who are active in the company's business and may therefore need access to, or be involved with creating, its intellectual property. On a practical basis, a business can split its confidential info between employees and contractors so that no single employee or contractor has complete information about all of the trade secrets required to create the company's products and solutions.
By developing a coherent strategy to handle its intellectual property, an Irish company is much better placed to safeguard its innovations.
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