NETWORKING: Patent or be Damned? - protecting your competitive position
The commercial value of innovation and creativity can only be maximised by a business if appropriate steps are taken to protect its competitive position.
Legal tools - patents, copyright, registered designs and trademarks - can give strong protection of intellectual property (IP) as long as their limitations and costs are well understood.
However strategic steps can also be effective. Secrecy, sticky products, brands, continual improvement and control of routes to market can all help maintain a leading competitive position based on innovative products.
At this BEN event we explore this theme from the perspective of both entrepreneurs and IP professionals, to help you find the right mix of legal and strategic elements for your own business strategy.
We are also pleased to offer 2 workshops that follow on from this networking event:
- Every Business Owns Intellectual Property (led by the IPO) - 1 April, Bristol
- Developing your IP Strategy (led by Astrum-IP) - 15 April, Bath
This event is kindly supported by 
and sponsored by 
and 
Martin Coulthard, Director
Bristol Enterprise Network
'Introduction'
*This presentation can be downloaded here*
Dr Gillian Whitfield, Partner
Astrum-IP
'An overview of legal IP protection'
*This presentation can be downloaded here*
Bruce Brain, Founder
Vysiion
'Finding the right strategic balance- an entrepreneur's view''
Andrew Allan-Jones, Partner
Bond Pearce
'Patents - do they really work for smaller tech businesses?'
*This presenation can be downloaded here*
Martin Rowland, Investment Director
Lloyds Development Capital
'An investor's perspective on IP'
*This presentation can be downloaded here*
Venue details
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Patent poster.pdf | 431.75 KB |
