Intellectual property

Congress needs to make it easier to enforce IP protections.

The story of Disney and Pixar.

Despite companies' almost fanatical worship of innovation, most new products don't generate money. That's because executives don't realize that the approach...

Noncompetes are bad for innovation; protecting information is essential.

Most companies view handing intellectual property to an outsourcer as delivering the castle keys to marauders. Outsourcers need access to customer names, automated business processes, and their clients’ homegrown software to do their jobs. But unscrupulous contractors can also do a job on clients. Businesses such as Apple Computer and Pearl Investments, a Portland, Maine–based […]

Novartis, the $33 billion Swiss pharmaceutical company, is opening a pioneering biomedical R&D facility in China. The $100 million plant, scheduled to begin operations in May, will increase the company’s long-term access to the huge Chinese pharmaceutical market and attract top Chinese scientific talent. But CEO Daniel Vasella says there’s more to the story. Novartis, […]

Today’s most successful companies are rethinking traditional notions of ownership.

An industry dedicated to financing inventors and monetizing their creations could transform the world.

Contract manufacturers cut OEMs’ costs and free up capital. But the hungry ones are starting to bite the hand that feeds them. Smart OEMs know how to keep such hazards under control.

Movie studios and record companies should take note.

Innovation experts advise executives to seek new thinking beyond their national borders. For companies based in the major economies, that generally translates into studying how things are done in other major economies. Unfortunately, today we encounter the same bad—or just plain old—ideas in New York, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Such locations are the […]

It’s a political talking point, so let’s look at the data.

Corporations that talk tough about cracking down on intellectual property theft need to look closely at their own organizations.

Most executives think they’re security conscious—they change their passwords and shred important documents and so forth. But what rarely crosses their minds, says espionage expert H. Keith Melton, is that cloak-and-dagger types really are after their valuables. Just because you’re not paranoid, he observes, doesn’t mean they’re not following you. Melton, the author of Ultimate […]

Squeezing today’s innovations into yesterday’s system simply won’t work.

Unemployment rates remain high in this sluggish recovery period, but many places in the United States require more and more workers to be licensed in...

When you think “platform,” you probably think “software”—with Microsoft Windows dominating the pack. But any product, not just software, can become a platform. What’s required is imagination. Consider how S.C. Johnson & Son, the multibillion-dollar consumer products company, managed to “platform” its way from floors to shaving cream to candles—and much, much more. Samuel Curtis […]

By placing a premium on predictability in their product development efforts, companies create a technology landscape that’s easier to navigate—but one that may produce fewer true breakthroughs.

With China now in the World Trade Organization, opportunities for multinational corporations are multiplying and evolving fast—and so are the accompanying underlying perils.

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Proteus is a healthcare start-up that has developed technology to embed electronics for computing and sensing in existing medical devices and drugs. The...

In May 2006, Foxconn International Holdings first discovered a trade secret leakage to BYD Company Limited through current and former employees. Despite...

This is Case A in a three case series. In December 2015, the managing director and chief executive officer of Sunitha Nath Boutiques in Bengaluru, discovered...

Supplement to case 396156. Presents a series of multiple choice options to be distributed and discussed in class.

Sasken, a communication software company based in India, provides research and development support to leading wireless device vendors from its offshore...

Analyzes the 1991 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the seminal New Economy antitrust case United States vs....

EURid considers possible market mechanisms to allocate initial domain names within the Internet's newly-created "dot EU." European Union regulations and...

Frustrated with the available means of working out while travelling, the three founders of PikoGym, a start-up out of Erlangen, Germany, had the idea...

After raising $6 billion and buying 60,000 patents, Intellectual Venture was confronted with a changing legal environment. A number of important legal...

Supplements the (A) case.

The management team of Marvel Enterprises, known for its universe of superhero characters that includes Spider-Man, the Hulk, and X-Men, must reevaluate...

In early 2017, camera manufacturer GoPro stunned investors by reporting its first recorded annual profit loss and a revenue forecast that sharply missed...

The case describes the actions taken by Dennis Hightower as president of Disney Consumer Products in Europe and the Middle East from 1988 to 1994. It...

After 20 years of rapid expansion, the last six months of 2007 saw Starbucks jolted by a decline in share price of 50 per cent and a decrease in customer...

In December 2012, less than two years into the founding of their music-streaming platform Anghami, cofounders Elie Habib and Eddy Maroun found themselves...

This is a condensed version of the Handpresso case series #5841. It describes the development from concept to production of the world's first and smallest...

Describes a start-up company seeking to exploit population genetic data from long-lived, healthy people. The company must address legal, financial, ethical,...

This explores the valuation of an opportunity to license a compound before it enters clinical trials. Describes Merck's decision tree evaluation process...

Supplements the (A) case.

The world famous toymaker, The LEGO Group (LEGO), assembles an internal management team to create a strategic report on LEGO's different product lines...

Congress needs to make it easier to enforce IP protections.

Proteus is a healthcare start-up that has developed technology to embed electronics for computing and sensing in existing medical devices and drugs. The...

The story of Disney and Pixar.

Despite companies' almost fanatical worship of innovation, most new products don't generate money. That's because executives don't realize that the approach...

In May 2006, Foxconn International Holdings first discovered a trade secret leakage to BYD Company Limited through current and former employees. Despite...

This is Case A in a three case series. In December 2015, the managing director and chief executive officer of Sunitha Nath Boutiques in Bengaluru, discovered...

Noncompetes are bad for innovation; protecting information is essential.

Supplement to case 396156. Presents a series of multiple choice options to be distributed and discussed in class.

In many organizations, the R&D, strategy, and legal functions are poorly integrated. As a consequence, firms miss opportunities to create and exploit...

Most companies view handing intellectual property to an outsourcer as delivering the castle keys to marauders. Outsourcers need access to customer names, automated business processes, and their clients’ homegrown software to do their jobs. But unscrupulous contractors can also do a job on clients. Businesses such as Apple Computer and Pearl Investments, a Portland, Maine–based […]