Who is Intellectual Property For? Within the movement to democratize IP

Intellectual property is a tool for creative people to share their ingenuity with the world and be compensated for it. Patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets allow people to claim ownership over and invest in what they invent, make and build. Intellectual property is relevant to all of us because the only way to solve humanity’s pressing problems is to empower people with ideas to lead the way.

Unfortunately, few people outside the innovation ecosystem understand the value of intellectual property. Lack of education about intellectual property is widespread in every type of educational institution. While the K-12 invention invention movement has made admirable progress, don’t even need elite business schools their students to learn about intellectual property. People who know what intellectual property is still express uncertainty about what it is like to work.

Part of this problem arises from the discrepancy between how intellectual property is legally defined and how it actually functions in the context of business. Unfortunately, much of the information you can find online about patents is dry, boring and difficult to understand.

In reality, the way intellectual property is used to turn ideas into products and services that benefit others is dynamic, complex and fascinating. No two voyages of discovery are exactly the same. There is much to be gained from studying these stories, including similarities and takeaways on how to become successful, that every innovator wants to know.

Recently, several organizations have taken on the challenge of demystifying intellectual property, placing it in an entrepreneurial context and expanding our understanding of who is considered an innovator.

For example the Michelson Institute of Intellectual Property – the non-profit organization founded by billionaire surgical inventor Dr. Gary K. Michelson and Alya Michelson – just released a new series of case studies embedding the use of intellectual property in the stories of real business ventures. (Full disclosure: I contributed one case study to the series.) Case studies like this one are particularly effective because storytelling is such a powerful teaching tool. Everyone loves stories – and people really do remember them.

Michelson IP has been creating and distributing free high-quality learning resources over IP for educators and students for some time now. More than 20,000 people have taken his course on Udemy. The intangible benefit, a nearly 400-page textbook, edited by former USPTO director David Kappos, is available for free download in various forms.

“All the big companies today, like Facebook, Amazon and Uber, are founded with intangible assets. When you build a business around an idea, you have to educate yourself about the intellectual property system, because that’s how you create value,” explains Michelson .

Another leader in efforts to make the innovation ecosystem more democratic and inclusive is the nonprofit Intellectual Property Understanding Center. In the first season of his new podcast, “Understanding IP Matters,” CIPU founder Bruce Berman explored how intellectual property intersects digital culture, art and commerce. CIPU is also responsible for creating IPBasica website that uses examples of well-known products, brands, companies and artists to explain what intellectual property is.

“The more I learn about how IP rights function in business and society, the more I realize how relevant they are for leveling the playing field. Successful companies should not see this as a threat,” says Berman.

By doing investor relations for intellectual property companies for more than three decades, he learned that juries didn’t know much about patents. Most of the investors, educators, and entrepreneurs he met knew little to nothing about how intellectual property worked, nor who benefited from it.

Despite the fact that intangibles make up about 90 percent of the value of S&P 500 companies today, intellectual property still doesn’t make sense on the balance sheet, he stresses.

“While independent inventions are the hallmark of innovation in America, intellectual property is often misused and misvalued,” Berman said. “There is a great need to make key audiences aware of IP rights, their purpose and who they benefit from.”

Since the pandemic, the United States Patent & Trademark Office has significantly ramped up its educational programming. Each month, it hosts dozens of free virtual events on a wide variety of topics related to IP, from winemaking to blockchain technology. It has created ongoing opportunities for independent inventors to interact directly with leaders of the USPTO.

The Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation continues to do phenomenal work to expand our understanding of who an innovator is. For example, “Innovative Lives” is an ongoing program that delves into the history of highly inventive people who are less known than they should be.

I’ve been writing for 15 years about how to use intellectual property to get paid. In my opinion, the best way to make intellectual property more relevant and accessible to a wider audience is to explain in detail how it can be used to commercialize new products and services.

Strategies to bring ideas to impact are in high demand – and it’s not just independent inventors who need this information. A recent research among women in academia with experience in innovation and entrepreneurship published by the magazine of the National Academy of Inventors revealed that their main request was for more training.

“The most frequently mentioned topic in the open-ended questions was the need for training on commercialization, intellectual property and entrepreneurship related topics,” the report states.

The main reason why the women were concerned with their university’s innovation ecosystem in the first place? Their desire to see their research applied in the real world. Inventors don’t invent to get rich, but they certainly want to earn a living doing what fulfills them.

Intellectual property plays a specific role in supporting agents of change. If inventors and creators of intellectual property were generally more successful, there would be many more.

Stephen Key is a member of the communications committee of the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding.