The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization was first held on April 26, 1970. Since then, the global community has seen the exponential growth of the importance of intellectual property. WIPO started World Intellectual Property Day in 2000 to help “raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and design impact on daily life” and “to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the globe.”
This year’s theme is Designing the Future. There’s no better way to help mold the growth of intellectual property than by helping set standards in order to ensure global IP harmony.
CONSOR Chairman, Weston Anson, is at the forefront of helping set those international standards. As Co-Chair of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) Valuation Standards Committee, Mr. Anson is helping spearhead a project to survey IP valuation methodologies used in actual transactions involving intellectual property and intangible assets. The committee is doing this on a global basis. The purpose is not to establish accounting standards or legal standards; rather, the purpose is to understand how people involved in actual arm’s length transactions utilize valuation methodologies to establish values for their IP—whether it is a license agreement, a sale, a joint venture or other transactions.
Setting global valuation standards is a necessity in today’s ever-changing business world. As more and more countries switch their industrial base from one of hard assets to one of lesser visible intellectual property assets, it will only serve to protect those individuals and companies working hard to design technological innovations. By helping set valuation standards, designers will be encouraged to produce items that are beneficial to society, creating products that are useable, relevant and sustainable.
Designers are becoming savvy, knowing that in order to protect their creativity they must become businessmen or women. WIPO’s Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs saw a 30% increase in international applications last year. This proves that these IP-preneurs know the importance of protecting the value of their designs.
Standardizing valuation methods is a preventable way for IP developers to protect their assets. So, as we celebrate World Intellectual Property Day, let’s help design the future by protecting and standardizing the value of IP. Let’s encourage the future of innovation.