15.2.1 Determining what Intellectual Property to Protect

For this activity:

You will need to write down your answers in your Mahara e-portfolio.

In this theme you have learnt that traditionally, businesses have thought of their physical assets, such as land, buildings, and equipment as the most important. Increasingly, however, a company’s intellectual assets are the most important.

Consider the following question. Prepare your answer to the question, justifying your comments.

It may help if you use the internet and other sources of information to research your answers. 

Question: How does an entrepreneur determine what intellectual property to protect?

To answer this question, you could think about/research the following:

1.       What criteria are there for determining what to protect?

2.       For each of the criteria, what rules should the entrepreneur apply?

3.       What are the common mistakes for not properly protecting intellectual property?