Kelley Keller

Trademark Attorney & Business Legal Coach for Digital Entrepreneurs

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Take the Intellectual Property Value Challenge

January 15, 2016 By Kelley Keller

Take the Intellectual Property Value Challenge

Not convinced your business has intellectual property that has monetary value? You’re wrong. Every business has valuable intellectual property.

Don’t believe me? If you’re skeptical about the worth of your ideas, innovation, inventions, and intelligence, then I’d like to issue a challenge to you. Ready? Here we go…

The Intellectual Property Value Challenge

I challenge you to give away all of your intellectual property and see what happens to your business.”

That’s right. Tell your competitors they can use your trademarks like your logo, brand names, slogans, and so on. While you’re at it, give them your trade secrets like your customer list, too. Share your product recipes or manufacturing processes on Twitter. Publish the designs for your new product invention on Instagram.

Don’t stop there! Your business has a lot of intellectual property that you probably don’t even realize you have. Take some time to identify all of your intellectual property and be sure to uncover even the most hidden assets. Once you have everything gathered and documented, hand it over to everyone you meet. You can make it easy for yourself and just publish it on Facebook.

Now, sit back and see what happens to your business.

The Results

What do you think will happen?

The ramifications will be far-reaching but at the most basic level, you’ll lose your competitive advantage in the marketplace and consumers will be utterly confused about your brands, products, services, and company. Confusion is the #1 brand killer, so ultimately, not protecting your intellectual property can lead to lost sales and business failure.

If your intellectual property hasn’t gained value yet, it will certainly gain value over time. Even the biggest brands in the world had to wait for their intellectual property to increase in value, but they all share one thing in common with your business and every other business—their intellectual property had massive value potential from Day One. However, if you don’t protect your intellectual property right now, you’ll have no chance of building that value.

Let’s take a look at some examples.

  • What would happen if the Coca-Cola Company gave up its intellectual property such as its recipe for Coke, its logos, its brand names, its slogans, and its hourglass bottle design?
  • What if McDonald’s gave up its logo, name, or Happy Meal box design?
  • How about if Apple gave up its research and development secrets, logo, brand names, and product and package designs?
  • What if Google gave up its brand names, logos, and algorithms?

We’ve already seen some of the ramifications of intellectual property owned by these companies that is being used illegally. Remember all of the counterfeit Apple products in China? There is a reason why Apple doggedly protects its intellectual property—money. Bottom-line, the company wants to profit from its innovation (and stop others from doing so without permission).

The Very Real Value of Intellectual Property

For the companies listed above, the value of their intellectual property has grown to enormous amounts. According to Forbes’ ranking of the 10 most valuable trademarks, the Google trademark is worth $44.3 billion, which equates to 27% of the company’s market capitalization of $164 billion. The Apple trademark is worth $29.5 billion, which is nearly 10% of the company’s total market capitalization of $307 billion.

Considering that the National Knowledge & Intellectual Property Management Task Force, Centre for Advanced Technologies (USA) estimates that intangible assets (primarily intellectual property) make up 73% of the corporate net worth of companies in the S&P 500, there is really no way to argue against the monetary value of intellectual property. So why aren’t you fully protecting yours?

Here are some more resources to help you understand more about intellectual property value to your business:

  • Intellectual Property for Business Owners – 10 Things You Should Know
  • Should You Protect Your Intellectual Property? Take the 3-Part Test

About Kelley Keller

Kelley Keller, Esq. is an intellectual property (IP) attorney, speaker, and educator with two decades of experience in the IP field. She works with individuals and businesses in a wide variety of industries helping them transform their ideas, knowledge, and innovation into valuable business assets that drive profits. Kelley offers education to established businesses, startups, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, non-profits, government agencies, legal professionals, and students about starting and growing a business as well as about IP, social media law, and the importance of protecting valuable brand assets and creative work.

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What People are Saying about Kelley Keller

Lisa Frederiksen | Author, Speaker, Trainer, Consultant at BreakingTheCycles.com

Kelley works differently. After an initial phone conversation (I live in CA and she's in PA), she drafted a scope of work for both efforts and set a flat fee which included (and still includes) the back and forth conversations a client needs in order to get the best results. She is extremely knowledgeable and truly able to "hear" what I'm after and create meaningful legal documents and advice that have helped me immeasurably. I highly recommend Kelley Keller.
2016-04-23T10:27:42-04:00
Kelley works differently. After an initial phone conversation (I live in CA and she's in PA), she drafted a scope of work for both efforts and set a flat fee which included (and still includes) the back and forth conversations a client needs in order to get the best results. She is extremely knowledgeable and truly able to "hear" what I'm after and create meaningful legal documents and advice that have helped me immeasurably. I highly recommend Kelley Keller.
http://kelleykeller.com/testimonials/lisa-frederiksen/

Kelly Phillips Erb | Senior Editor at Forbes

Kelley was able to explain complicated legal issues in a manner that was easy to understand without being patronizing. She was also great at talking me down from ledges - it was easy to get worked up when opposing parties weren't being cooperative but Kelley advised me to trust in the process and she was right.

Kelley explained my costs and options, as well as the pros and cons of each. She also kept me informed about my matter, letting me know what I needed to do at the appropriate time. All in all, I felt very involved in the process without being overwhelmed. Kelley made a wildly stressful situation so much better. I would highly recommend her services.
2016-04-23T10:42:43-04:00
Kelley was able to explain complicated legal issues in a manner that was easy to understand without being patronizing. She was also great at talking me down from ledges - it was easy to get worked up when opposing parties weren't being cooperative but Kelley advised me to trust in the process and she was right. Kelley explained my costs and options, as well as the pros and cons of each. She also kept me informed about my matter, letting me know what I needed to do at the appropriate time. All in all, I felt very involved in the process without being overwhelmed. Kelley made a wildly stressful situation so much better. I would highly recommend her services.
http://kelleykeller.com/testimonials/kelly-phillips-erb-senior-editor-forbes/

Charlotte Avery | CEO at Being Charlotte Avery

Words cannot express how much I appreciate Kelley Keller. She has helped me and my business on so many levels. Whenever I have a question I always know that I can call her and she will give me the best advice/counsel. I know that my business is in good hands with Kelley.

Kelley, THANK YOU for EVERYTHING!!!
2016-04-23T10:46:03-04:00
Words cannot express how much I appreciate Kelley Keller. She has helped me and my business on so many levels. Whenever I have a question I always know that I can call her and she will give me the best advice/counsel. I know that my business is in good hands with Kelley. Kelley, THANK YOU for EVERYTHING!!!
http://kelleykeller.com/testimonials/charlotte-avery-ceo-charlotte-avery/

Ruth Koup | Founder of Suits to Careers, Inc., Dress for Success South Central PA & Tied to Success

Kelley Clements Keller, Esq has been a huge support to the launch of our new umbrella organization, Suits to Careers, Inc. and the branding and trademarking of our men's program, Tied to Success. We could not have navigated this transition without her support. Many thanks.
2016-04-23T10:49:27-04:00
Kelley Clements Keller, Esq has been a huge support to the launch of our new umbrella organization, Suits to Careers, Inc. and the branding and trademarking of our men's program, Tied to Success. We could not have navigated this transition without her support. Many thanks.
http://kelleykeller.com/testimonials/ruth-koup/

Matt Bloom | Founder & CEO of CRIMEWATCH Technologies, Inc.

Kelley is an exceptional IP attorney. She understands the legal nuances facing start-ups and is willing to work within those restrictions. Kelley is casual and easy to work with, but when it comes to legal action she is aggressive and takes charge. She has successfully helped us secure coexistence agreements and trademarks for our business. Here expertise has added exponential value to the technology we have built and I would highly recommend her to anyone seeking IP representation.
2016-04-23T10:53:29-04:00
Kelley is an exceptional IP attorney. She understands the legal nuances facing start-ups and is willing to work within those restrictions. Kelley is casual and easy to work with, but when it comes to legal action she is aggressive and takes charge. She has successfully helped us secure coexistence agreements and trademarks for our business. Here expertise has added exponential value to the technology we have built and I would highly recommend her to anyone seeking IP representation.
http://kelleykeller.com/testimonials/matt-bloom-founder-ceo-crimewatch-technologies-inc/

Zachary Ziegler | Brewmaster at Molly Pitcher Brewing Company

Kelley is not only extremely knowledgeable in the realm of intellectual property, but she made the whole process fun! It's not often you hear fun and legal work in the same sentence but Kelley's personality eased my worries while keeping me upbeat the whole time. She explained the entire process in language I could understand and kept me updated continuously. I would not hesitate to work with her again or refer her to my friends and family.
2016-04-23T10:54:48-04:00
Kelley is not only extremely knowledgeable in the realm of intellectual property, but she made the whole process fun! It's not often you hear fun and legal work in the same sentence but Kelley's personality eased my worries while keeping me upbeat the whole time. She explained the entire process in language I could understand and kept me updated continuously. I would not hesitate to work with her again or refer her to my friends and family.
http://kelleykeller.com/testimonials/zachary-ziegler-brewmaster-molly-pitcher-brewing-company/
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