Intellectual property audit for efficient intellectual property management of an organisation

Intellectual property (IP), as a key intellectual asset of an organization, empowers the organization to collect the complete value of their intellectual input. In this era of rapidly changing IP regimes, it is the need of time to identify and efficiently utilize intellectual assets owned by an organization. Hence it has now become a prerequisite for organizations to develop the expertise and capability not only to create IP through R & D, but also to manage the same. Intellectual Property Management (IPM) is a multifaceted discipline concerned with IP generation, protection, and exploitation catering to fast changing market demands across the globe. This basically deals with the policy formulation, designing the strategies for acquiring, protecting and exploiting the technology developed. First step to develop effective IPM system is IP Audit. Systematic approach of IP audit assesses overall intangibles generated, maintained and exploited by an organization. Therefore, a thoughtful and methodical approach for IP audit is the need. The objective of this paper is to develop an approach for conducting IP audit by effectively enlisting the varied intangible properties owned by an Organization. This will help an organization to strengthen the IPM. The nature of this research is exploratory. Method adapted for study is combination of literature survey, expert opinion and case study.