Protect ideas – increase value ?

Competition Law Claims can be protected as Intellectual Properties, in particular as Design, Trademark, Domain, Copyright or as an ancillary copyright (against slavish imitation) or can be specially protected.

Intellectual Property Law refer to intellectual property rights and the  abbreviation for it, is : “IP”.

Generalizations of the numerous individual rights by such terms remain inaccurate in detail but because of the important differences in the legal contents and in the eventual consequences, it is important to differenciate copyrights and patents really well. Nevertheless, IP rights still have many aspects in common with each other, such as their purpose or monopolisation for the benefit of individuals. Furthermore, the term “intellectual property” does not literally mean that a factual “intellectual” property right exist – of course, human thoughts can not be monopolized – and ideas as such can not be protected. Rather, this term reflects more the immaterial character of such rights, intended as inventive protective rights.

Although the existence and the important significance of IP rights, these are today still partly underestimated because of their immateriality and their characterisation as “rights”; Intellectual Property rights have become a central value of many companies and innovative developments.

For example, the company name of a business can play a central role in value assessment, as in the case of the Coca-Cola brand. Valuation issues, by the way, can confidently be described as “unsolved”, since the different valuation mechanisms produce highly different results.