There are many ways you can adopt to protect your company's IP assets. It ranges from encouraging innovation to registering your IPs (e.g. trade marks, patents) with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), from having a simple process to restrict access to confidential information to putting in place a rigorous IP management (IPM) process. However, IP owners should consider the cost of IP management and protection alongside the fulfilment of business objectives.

For more information on available financial assistance schemes for SMEs, see FAQ on "Where else can I get help on IP management (IPM)?"

Also see FAQ on "Are there tools to help me manage my IPs?"

Companies may find their expansion plans hindered when they expand overseas. For example, there were cases where companies were late in finding out that their company names and trade marks had already been registered by another company. Some may even find themselves being sued for "trade mark infringement" for trade names that they have been using back at home.

Such issues could be avoided if adequate IP management (IPM) practices were part of the company's culture and IP issues were considered as a part of the company's business expansion plans.

Also see FAQ on "How do I manage or protect my IP assets. Will it be costly?"

Successful businesses are leveraging IP to differentiate themselves from their competitors. IP is widely viewed as the driving force in a company for greater innovation in areas such as design, marketing or production. It is also an engine for growth as the company can harness its IP for exploitation to generate substantial revenue. Some examples of IP exploitation are:
- franchising of business formats. E.g. Ya Kun Kaya Toast's franchise.
- licensing technology. E.g. Trek 2000 has licensed its USB flash drive solution.
- licensing content characters. E.g. 'Katakune', a 3D-animated series for children about a seven-year-old silkworm, was sold to CCTV in China and televised in 2006. Singapore company Character Farm owns the registered trade mark of "Katakune" and has since licensed it for merchandise.
- other forms of commercialisation by making use of knowledge gained. E.g. Adam Khoo, a renowned motivational speaker, gives seminars and workshops and publishes books on various topics on self-improvement.

Hence, even if your competitor can copy ideas from one of your products, it is not able to replicate your entire robust system to manage human resource, innovation and IP commercialisation when it is well protected.

Proper deployment of IP management (IPM) can help to bring about good reputation, revenue and market share to the company.

Also see FAQ on "How do I manage or protect my IP assets. Will it be costly?" and "Are my IP assets protected when I venture overseas?"

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has developed SCOPE IP^TM to help assess a company's IP management process in eight areas. Consultants who are trained in this methodology can help you identify areas requiring improvement and potential strategic growth options. Financial assistance is available for SMEs, under the Intellectual Property Management (IPM) for SMEs programme to subsidise the cost of hiring a SCOPE IP? consulting team.

Also on our website, you can find the Register of Singapore Patent Agents as well as a directory of IP service providers called SNIPS (the service providers pay to be listed).

Alternatively, you can click here to email us or call 6339 8616 during office hours.

You can visit Singapore Network of IP Service Providers (SNIPS), IPOS' one-stop directory of IP service providers, which is tailored to help you expedite your search for relevant IP firms or services.