Managing the risks of commercializing new technology

Patents and copyrights promote the sciences and useful arts by reducing risks inherent in commercial ventures. Trademarks and trade secrets developed from common law to ensure fair competition among commercial ventures. With an understanding of patents, copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks, and an understanding of the role of legal opinions thereon, a manager can organize his or her engineering activities to systematically protect the earnings of product lines by reducing some of the risks of a commercial venture. In this paper, suggested risk reduction activities are presented. These activities include capturing the innovations of creative engineers during development phases of a product by acquiring intellectual property. These activities include a process of assessing the risks of commercializing the product. And these activities includes being prepared to respond to a “cease and desist” letter, if one is received. Managers should use these property rights and legal opinions on these rights as tools to protect earnings on the products on which the company´s value is based