It is important that you take care of your intangible assets, and you may need to protect some of them. At the Swedish Intellectual Property Office (Patent- och registreringsverket, PRV), you can register and protect your invention, trademark and design. Intangible assets such as business models, contracts and customer databases are not registerable but can be protected by ensuring that no unauthorised person gets access to the information. You should have a strategy for how to manage all your intangible assets. Such a strategy is called an IP strategy, or intellectual property strategy.

Intellectual property strategies at the Swedish Intellectual Property Office

Advantages and disadvantages of protection

There are several advantages of protecting your company’s assets:

• You get protection for your own investments
• You block competitors
• It is easier to attract financiers
• You can sell and licence your intangible assets
• The burden of proof in case of an infringement rests with the infringer

But there are a few things you need to keep in mind:

• The invention must be made public (patents)
• Can you recover the costs that the protection entails?
• Is the protection good enough?
• Do you have the energy to defend your rights?

Contact PRV if you have an intangible asset that is worth protecting.