OUTSOURCING: AN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MINEFIELD

Great article in LocalTechWire.com about the outsourcing revolution and its potential impact on intellectual property protection.  Premise of the article:

Unfortunately, the potentially critical impact on intellectual property rights related to the outsourcing of technology development is too often overlooked.  A company?s ability to protect key intellectual property assets can be ompromised if appropriate protective steps are not taken prior to outsourcing technology development.

The underlying concern will always be control.  The company outsourcing R&D will have to be extremely diligent about maintaining appropriate and detailed records outlining ownership and development of intellectual property.  The article is heavy on copyright law as the article appears to be written with computer code or software in mind, but there are minefields with respect to patents as well.  Issues such as publication, foreign filing licenses, and assignments will cause headaches for any company outsourcing R&D operations.

You may be interested in reading the following related posts:

1. outsourcing and trade secret issues
2. All Business Have Intellectual Property
3. MECHANIZED DEATH: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY STYLE
4. Legal Imperatives on Intellectual Property Management
5. PR NIGHTMARE: MIKE-ROWE-SOFT, UPDATE Microsoft

Posted by Douglas Sorocco, April 1, 2004 at 12:10 am
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