ABSTRACT
Over recent years, as knowledge and know-how have become ever-greater sources of competitive advantage, so the role of the associated intellectual property has increased. Fuelled initially by technology transfer, and more latterly by increased cooperation between companies, intellectual property (IP) has moved from a defensive problem concerned with revenue protection to one more focused on value generation. As this change has occurred, so the varied mechanisms being used to affect it have also evolved. Today, in an ever more IP-aware marketplace, several major organizations are increasingly using IP as a key part of their innovation strategic approach. As more firms begin proactively to share their IP to generate value, patent pooling has now become the latest activity for focus in several market-leading arenas.
