IP (Was: "C-level")

[Dave Wilton]

"IP" is widely used in the business world and not simply by IP lawyers. In
the high tech business world IP is not simply a legal question, it figures
into a company's valuation and its business strategy.

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net
  http://www.wilton.net


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Baker, John
> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 2:38 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: IP (Was: "C-level")
>
>
>         "IP," as an abbreviation for intellectual property, has
> been around a few years.  I think it began, and to a significant
> extent remains, as a legal term.  Lawyers who specialized in the
> area got tired of being called patent lawyers, when they also had
> other important responsibilities.  The earliest use of IP I see
> is from a 1984 seminar outline on Westlaw:  Practising Law
> Institute PLI Order No. B4-6688 September 18, 1984 Seventh Annual
> Institute for Corporate Counsel: Acquisitions and Divestitures
> ACQUISITION AND DIVESTITURE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Evelyn M. Sommer:
>
>         >>As used herein, intellectual property includes
> 1. Patents
> 2. Trademarks
> 3. Copyrights
> 4. Trade Secrets
> 5. "Technology" = know how
>
>         ....
>
>         B. Role of Counsel for Acquiring Company
> 1. Merger situation--little direct responsibility
> 2. Acquisition situation--
> a). Letter of intent or preliminary agreement--require statement
> that seller will transfer or license (royalty free?) all IP
> necessary to continue the business.
> b) Similar clause in Final Agreement in order to cover any
> "forgotten" IP<<
>
>         Note that "intellectual property" is carefully defined,
> while "IP" is used in only one place in the outline, without
> definition, even though lawyers frequently define obvious
> abbreviations.  I take this to mean that "IP" was an informal
> term that the writer used inadvertently.
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of James A. Landau
> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 3:38 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "C-level"
>
>
> I don't recall seeing this term before, and now discover it twice in the
> March 1, 2004 issue of Computerworld.
>
> Page 4:  "And where a company puts its "IP", as business folks dub
> intellectual property, therin lies corporate power, justifying
> the C-lvel title and a
> fancy-schmancy office.  With the arrival of software as a
> service, the breadth
> of IP under a CIO's wing is shirnking."
>
> [clip]
>
> I was also unaware of the meaning given above for "IP"
>
>       - James A. Landau
>
>