Tag: intellectual property

Succession Planning for your business is an easy topic to grasp: it’s about putting a plan in place for your business so ultimately, when you sell – be it to family, staff or the market – you will not only maximise your price, but ensure an easy transition process that will increase the marketability to a prospective buyer. Well, that seems like a pretty important document to me, so why do so many of us put off what is akin to an ‘insurance plan’ for our future?

In 2009, inventor Don Morgan was a finalist in Anthill’s Smart 100 competition. However, as he recounts in this passionate plea for change, his quest for grant funding at home has forced him to take his innovation elsewhere.

A company will generally not think twice about protecting its physical and tangible assets through insurance premiums. For example, premiums may be...

Use your trademark as an adjective, and not as a verb or noun. This will prevent your mark from becoming generic. For example, you can now Hoover a floor or Google a person. But this type of use of language undermines the trademark.

Sponsored Message: Are you an over-worked, underpaid business owner? Wouldn't you prefer to be an entrepreneurial Renegade Rockstar? Register for your free 'Productise or Die' DVD.

Sponsored Message: Are you an over-worked, underpaid business owner? Wouldn't you prefer to be an entrepreneurial Renegade Rockstar? Register for your free 'Productise or Die' DVD.

Two remarkable things happened at the launch of Creative Innovation 2010. Firstly, a senior representative from a leading Australian bank told an endearing story about her early successes outside the banking sector. (It's a rare thing to be won over by a representative from the Australian banking sector.) Secondly, conference organiser Tania de Jong, surprised the crowd with a story about her grandmother's inventiveness... before bursting into song.

After months of speculation, Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr today announced that the new CEO of Commercialisation Australian will be entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Doron Ben-Meir.

Calling all innovators. This is your chance to nominate an Australian made product or service and showcase an innovation that Australian business builders simply need to hear about. Promote the spoils of your own toils or put one of your clients under the spotlight. This is your chance to refine your message and get exposure.

Following our recent series of articles on innovation in Australia (our Australia Day series), we received the following note from the Office of Senator Kim Carr, Australia’s Innovation Minister. We were expecting a dressing down. Here's what we got instead.

Following our recent series of articles on innovation in Australia (our Australia Day series), we received the following note from the Office of Senator Kim Carr, Australia’s Innovation Minister. We were expecting a dressing down. Here's what we got instead.

Eugene Lin wanted to be rich. So, he decided to invent an iPhone application. With nothing but an accelerometer, two dozen naked women, and the nation of Japan, Eugene surprisingly found himself with a ripper story to tell (in under five minutes).

Brands such as Coca Cola are worth hundreds of millions of dollars and rely on secrecy to protect their secret formulae. Rumour has it that only four people know the formula for Coca Cola. It is also alleged that only four people know the secret to the finger licking good taste of Kentucky Fried Chicken. If companies like Coca Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken can rely on secrecy, is that enough?

In August, we decided to explore the many facets of capital raising - from angel investment and grants to venture capital and private equity. For want of a better name, we called the exercise Anthill’s Venture Capital month. The theme tossed up plenty of investment advice and discussion. But it also triggered some strong reactions from Australian inventors who think that the investment culture in Australia needs a dramatic overhaul. Trevor Rose was among the most ardent, so we invited him to provide a 'right of reply'.

Negotiating contracts is an integral part of business. But the process is rarely as simple as anticipated. In this classic video, Chico and Groucho Marxgive a contract a once over... and then some.

A breakthrough by researchers at the University of Sydney is set to harmonise two of today's hottest emerging trends: cloud computing and energy efficiency.

This series by contributing authors Gene Stark and Jeremy Samuel ponders why law firms aren’t better at marketing themselves. This second instalment explores misconceptions about branding and why law firms tend to play from the same tired corporate playbook.

Most people have a vague understanding of the various types of intellectual property rights, but few know exactly which rights relate to them and even fewer know how much this will cost. This new series takes readers through the ins and outs of intellectual property rights protection specifically for knowledge-economy businesses.

So while this $US32.5 million US Government funding for UltraBattery is certainly a tremendous validation for the technology and the CSIRO researchers who developed it, the international licensing option pursued means that Australia will, in all likelihood, only receive couch change from what stands to be an extremely lucrative venture for the foreign companies (Furukawa Battery Company and East Penn) that are actually doing the commercialisation.

Why is it that some of our society’s brightest minds have no idea how to translate their “no holds barred” skills from the court room to the public domain of marketing communication in a battle to win more clients? Maybe they just don’t need the extra business, maybe they don’t know how, or maybe the truth is a combination of arrogance and ignorance steeped in tradition.