- Innovation catalyst for a smart province: Gauteng -

The objective of the Intellectual Property (IP) office is to provide leadership in IP related issues and value added services directed at ensuring effective IP management and commercialisation of technology innovations.  This service is provided to the Innovation Hub Management Company (TIHMC) and participants of programmes run by TIHMC.

What we do:

Services offered by the IP office:

• Management of the IP process including strategies for IP protection, ownership and commercialisation.
• IP management workshops for entrepreneurs and the Innovation Hub precinct companies, focussing on:

1.         What intellectual property is.

2.         What intellectual property covers.

3.         The essentials of trademarks, copyrights, designs, patents and trade secrets.

4.         Why intellectual property is important to a business.

5.         The importance of conducting prior art searches.

6.         How to conduct patent searches through the proprietary and non-proprietary patent database.

• IP and legal due diligences and IP opinions.
• Monitoring and identifying issues and approaches in IP management relating to green economy and environmental sustainability projects and innovations in support of Climate Innovation Center.
• Vetting, reviewing, negotiating and drafting various types of agreements.
• IP and legal advice to the entrepreneurs and the Innovation Hub precinct companies.

Importance of IP

Intellectual property (IP) is recognised globally as an essential asset of companies, defining a company’s worth, market share and its success to a large extent.  Failure to identify and protect IP may have a drastic negative influence on your success as a start-up company.  It is for this reason that IP management is essential for the success of a company. While you are in the midst of initiating R&D, starting up your new company or have just entered the market with your product, do not under estimate the importance of IP in your business strategy.

IP rights determine, amongst others:

• If you can manufacture your product legally
• If you need to obtain a licence or an assignment to prevent litigation
• Whether another individual or company must license your technology from you to be able to manufacture or sell his product legally
• If you can import your product
• If you can copy a component of another individual’s product/technology to use in your product etc.

In short, regardless of what field your business is in, it is only to your advantage to have knowledge of IP to be able to run your business successfully.  IP rights grant you as the owner the freedom to make the most of your invention and to limit competition during the term of protection.