Archive for the 'Copyrights' Category

Small business asset ratio: tangible vs intangible (IP)

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on February 9, 2009
in Business planning, Cashflow - Credit - Collections, Copyrights, Entrepreneurship, Finance - Accounting - Taxes, Globalization, Government, Innovation - Creativity, Inspirational and Motivational, Intellectual property, Legal, Management Fundamentals, Patents, Start-up, Trade Secrets, Trademarks and Service Marks and e-Business
. 0 Comments

Around the turn of the century, I ran across a study that was conducted to look at changes in the way businesses leveraged assets to execute their business model between the 1970s and the 1990s. Reading the results of that survey was an “Aha!” moment for me, and it contributed significantly to my thinking about how we would do business in the 21st century.

Study author and intellectual property attorney, Kenneth Krosin, found that in the late 1970s, corporate assets amounted to about 70% fixed assets, like buildings, equipment, tools, fixtures, inventory, etc., and about 30% intangible assets, a/k/a intellectual property (IP), such as patents, trademarks, licensing and trade secrets. But the big news in this study was that by the end of the 20th century, those asset category percentages had essentially inverted. By 1999, businesses were leveraging around 70% IP, and only 30% were assets that had serial numbers, stock numbers or an address.

Welcome to the Digital/Information Age.

In the speeches I deliver to small business owners around the country every year, I describe the findings of the Krosin study so I can poll the audience about how they’re leveraging IP. My unscientific findings show that, while most small businesses are not quite leveraging IP to fixed assets at a 70:30 ratio like the big businesses in the Krosin study, most are leveraging IP more every year and fixed assets less.

Besides the types of intellectual property - patents, etc., - there are two categories of IP: 1) the kind that someone else creates, for example, the patented software you license to use on your computer; and 2) the kind that a business creates for itself, like a delivery scheme developed internally that reduces fuel costs, which is often employed as a trade secret.

In the 21st century, it doesn’t really matter who creates the IP your small business is leveraging, as long as you’re continually finding new ways to do so. I believe that any small business that isn’t leveraging IP more and tangible assets less is headed for extinction.

I’m happy to report that Kenneth Krosin (foley.com) has become a member of my Brain Trust and has joined me several times on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, to talk about IP and small business. I think you’ll enjoy my most recent interview on this topic with Ken. And don’t forget to leave a comment.

Small business and the global warming debate

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on December 17, 2008
in Copyrights, Economy: National and Global, Government, Human Resources, Innovation - Creativity, Inspirational and Motivational and Trade Secrets
. 0 Comments

Is global warming real? I don’t know, and there are so many different views on this by learned scientists that it’s difficult to know for sure. The most recent report I’ve seen said that the past two years of cooling has reversed the warming trend of the past 30 years.

Is there climate change? Absolutely. Is this a bad thing? Maybe, maybe not. Remember that global warming actually began 10,000 years ago when Kentucky was under 5,000 feet of ice, and there were mammoth footprints, not carbon footprints. I think reasonable people agree that human beings have benefited from this warming trend over the past 10 millennia.

Is human behavior having an adverse impact on the environment? Probably. If so, we should try to do something about that. But here is a point I haven’t heard anyone else bring up: How do we know that human efforts to reverse global warming won’t go too far and actually trigger global cooling? I don’t know about you, but I prefer to be warm.

In the policy debate, the enviro-zealots want to regulate carbon as a commodity, possibly list carbon dioxide, one-half of the photosynthesis equation, as a dangerous gas, and legislate reductions of carbon emissions back to levels prior to 1990. But U.S. GDP was just $6 trillion in 1990, while in 2008 it will be more than double that at approximately $13 trillion. Any carbon reduction plan has to combine alternative energy sources, conservation and carbon reduction over a period of time that allows for an orderly transition that doesn’t make American businesses uncompetitive against countries like China and India, which have no interest in curtailing their carbon emissions.

Recently on my small business radio program I discussed global warming and related topics with Dr. David Deming. He is a noted scientific expert and an adjunct scholar with the National Center for Policy Analysis, and I think you’ll learn a lot from what he had to say about this issue. Thanks for listening and also for your comments.

Small business, the Obama administration and IP

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on December 14, 2008
in Contracts, Copyrights, Government, Home-based business, Human Resources, Innovation - Creativity, Intellectual property, Legal, Online technologies, Patents, Presidential policies, Trade - Imports - Exports, Trade Secrets, Trademarks and Service Marks and e-Business
. 0 Comments

As we approach the second decade of the 21st century, it’s clear that the strength of the American economy will come more from our ability to create and sell intellectual property (IP) than the tangible things we were so known for in most of our history. And as globalization – efficiently transporting goods, services and financial assets around the world – continues apace, our IP is also being delivered away from American shores and, therefore, the protection of U.S. intellectual property laws.

Our trading partners around the world have their own IP laws that dictate how our property will be treated there, but unfortunately, those laws often don’t provide adequate protection and, frankly, our innovations can get ripped off. This is where our federal government comes in.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) is the primary organization that negotiates our business relationships with other countries, including IP issues, and the leadership of that cabinet level department is changing. Barack Obama has chosen Bill Richardson to head up his DOC and since small businesses are creating more and more IP, and doing more and more international trade, this appointment bears watching. Richardson has an impressive resume as a governor and diplomat, but time will tell about his effectiveness as the head of the DOC.

Someone who will be watching the Richardson DOC is Dr. Mark Esper, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Recently, Mike joined me on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, to talk about IP, trade issues and the Richardson selection. Take a few minutes to meet Mike and listen to our conversation. And of course, comments are always welcome.

Small business networking online - not social networking

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on December 6, 2008
in Copyrights, Intellectual property, Marketing - Branding - Advertising, Online strategy, Online technologies and e-Business
. 3 Comments

“We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” exclaimed Dorothy to her black dust-mop-of-a-dog as she looked around the strange world of Oz that she suddenly found herself in. Small business owners should say Dorothy’s words out loud to themselves as they look in the mirror every morning, because we’re not in Kansas anymore; we’re in the 21st century and things here are different.

There are thousands of reasons to remind yourself that your 21st century business operates in a strange world, but perhaps the most dramatic example is that parallel universe known as on-line social networking. You know – Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter – the list goes on and is getting longer every day. And if your first cell phone was bolted to the floor of your car, the Yellow Brick Road that must now be taken to incorporate social networking into your small business model may seem like a strange and intimidating place.

Faced with the pressure to adopt a social networking strategy, many small business owners are torn by two understandable questions: 1) Is social networking a fad, like citizen band radios? 2) If this thing is real, how does a traditional business incorporate social networking into its overall marketing plan?

For some time now I’ve said that the enemy of business adoption of social networking is in the name. Small business owners don’t want their employees socializing when they should be working. So, in order to make this medicine go down a little sweeter, I’ve coined a new term: “online business networking.” For those of us who have to make payroll every Friday, we should adopt practices, policies and technologies that will help us conduct business networking online.

Online business networking, as I see it, includes strategic activity on sites like those mentioned above, but would also incorporates collaborative technologies that make working with partners and customers more effective – think of this last part as “intra-networking.” And one more thing: make sure to have someone under the age of 30 - probably under 25 - helping with this plan.

On my radio program this week I interviewed online collaboration expert, Maia Sisk, with the IBM division of Lotus, about social networking opportunities for small businesses. I think you’ll like what she had to say. And don’t forget to leave a comment, question or even a frustration. So, instead of clicking your heels, click this link.

Small business intellectual property (IP)

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on December 4, 2008
in Copyrights, Intellectual property, Patents, Trade Secrets and Trademarks and Service Marks
. 1 Comment

Intellectual property (IP) is one of the most important issues most small business owners need to become more knowledgeable about; especially with regard to their own IP.

Most of us think of IP as just patents, and since few of us are inventors, we think the IP world is for others. But ALL small businesses create IP on a regular basis. If you’ve developed a system for managing your customers, or a delivery scheme, both are good examples of small business intellectual property. You’re not likely to patent those, but you should recognize that they are your assets and protect them as another kind of IP, a trade secret. Think of the Colonel’s 11 herbs and spices, or the formula for Coke. After all these years, both are still trade secrets.

Copyright are another great example of small business IP. You create information every year that should be copyrighted by your company and protected.

Today we learned more about IP, especially copyrights, with David Dawsey, IP attorney from Gallagher & Dawsey Co., LPA (we used to call them patent attorneys) and outstanding member of my Brain Trust. I hope you ‘ll take a few minutes to listen to what David taught us about small business IP. If you’re leveraging intellectual property in your small business, be sure to leave a comment.