ABSTRACT
In the commercial world, companies are subjected to constant pressure by shareholders and investors—to achieve sustainable profitability and growth. Consequently, companies are continually balancing their business strategies around: (a) organic growth involving new or improved products/services and (b) inorganic growth based on acquisitions, mergers, and strategic alliances. Thus, to know what organic growth means, one must understand innovation and technology management. Similarly, to know what inorganic growth means, one must understand—the net worth/book value, market capitalization, and true market value, intellectual capital management of a firm, and how it defines the “value” of the company. Therefore, it is important for scientists, engineers, and business specialists to understand the subject of intellectual property rights from three different angles: business strategy, innovation, and technology management. Accordingly, before a detailed presentation, this chapter reviews the underpinning concepts and ideas of intellectual property rights—such as, information revolution, knowledge economy, organic and inorganic growth of firms, tangible assets and intangible assets, intellectual assets, competitive intangibles, codified proprietary knowledge, net worth or book value, market capitalization, true market value, and intellectual capital of the firm —and describes how these concepts are inter-related.
