New Pilot Survey Reveals Importance of Intellectual Property

The National Science Foundation reports that trademarks and trade secrets are the most important forms for intellectual property protection, followed by copyrights and patents, according to a recent National Science Foundation and U.S. Census Bureau survey, as part of a revamped and expanded Business R&D and Innovation Survey. The survey indicates the importance businesses place on different types of IP protection for their companies. Overall, 15 percent of all businesses reported trademarks as either very important or somewhat important to their business. “Much of today’s business derives its competitive advantage from the ability to protect and exploit exclusive rights over investments in intellectual property,” says NSF’s John Jankowski. “Hence, IP protection is a persistent and recurrent concern of businesses.” The survey also found that 12 percent of U.S.-located businesses identified copyrights as important, and businesses indicated that design patents and utility patents are other important forms of IP protection. Click here to read more.

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