Book Review on Intellectual Property Strategy by John Palfrey

Many managers tend to delegate intellectual property matters to the legal department, without realizing that such assets can be leveraged to achieve various management goals such as accessing new markets, enhancing products and services, and generating new revenue streams. In "Intellectual Property Strategy", Harvard Law School professor and intellectual property expert, John Palfrey provides a concise guide on intellectual property strategy for corporate managers and non-profit administrators. Palfrey recommends flexible and creative strategies that go beyond the traditional restrictive approach to intellectual property, and considers it as a key strategic asset class. Every organization has an intellectual property portfolio of some value, and thus needs an intellectual property strategy. Intellectual property can include a brand or any information produced and managed by an organization. Palfrey identifies patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret as the essential areas of intellectual property and describes strategic approaches for each in various organizational contexts, based on four basic steps. Innovative organizations employ multiple intellectual property approaches depending on the situation and achieve both short- and long-term benefits while positioning themselves for success in the global information economy.