Vdis10025 lect 4 managing ip management strategies vs1

Managing Intellectual Property !Management Strategies!!!!!!VDIS10025 Intellectual Property and Design !

The desk on the previous slide is the desk of the world famous design manager, entrepreneur and business owner Alberto Alessi, in Crusinallo, Italy, taken in 2001. The office was not a “mess” but rather was a collection of the new products of the company, design drawings by designers from Sottsass to Mendini, prototypes made from all materials and collectables that Alessi uses to inspire and motivate himself; the birthplace of ideas. Intellectual Property is at the very core of Alessi’s success; a constant stream of original products, a long list of trademarks, patents and designs, an established brand equity and active strategic legal action when required.

Managing Intellectual Property Management Strategies VDIS10025 Intellectual Property and Design

Italian Design Factories as Alessi calls them are rich in Intellectual property: Alberto Alessi takes the traditions and values of hand made objects and translates them, via management of the design process into unique mass produced objects for the international mass market. Protecting the IP embedded in this constant flow of new products is a sincere challenge.


This is the valley of Strona in Northern Italy. It is a narrow valley in the Italian Alps close to Switzerland, and there is a long tradition of artisans production of wooden and metal objects

Albeto’s two grandfathers, the maternal one, Alfonso Bialetti and the paternal one, Giovanni Alessi were both heirs of that old artisanal tradition.

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But his two grandfathers took (as producers) different routes. Grandfather Bialetti invented, designed and manufactured in the thirties the octagonal espresso maker in cast aluminium which became very famous after World War II; a true object of mass production.


Grandfather Alessi started the Alessi company in 1921 as a workshop, an “officina”, producing a huge quantity of different objects for the table in nickel and brass. Alessi today is still a kind of handicraft made with the help of machines.


The Bialetti and the Alessi companies took on very different shapes during the 1950’s. In fact while the Bialetti company has remained until recently with just one product range, the octagonal coffee maker, producing around 4 million pieces a year, the Alessi company has produced during more or less the same time (around 70 years) many thousand different objects. Today, around 2000 different products are shown in the Alessi catalogues, 2000 different products to protect from an unlimited number of competitors on almost every continent.



After studying law, Alberto Alessi inherited this tradition in 1970, with;

“some convictions, some philosophical thoughts, on the role of objects in our actual society, the consumer society. We live in a society where all relevant material needs are fulfilled by the production of objects, but the big mass production industry didn't seem to have understood this. I believe, that in most cases, mass production industry goes on working simply to satisfy people's needs, instead of paying more attention to their wishes, to their desires."


Later on in his career, in the second half of the seventies, Alessi started to work with noted Architects and designers including; Robert Venturi, Achille Castiglioni and Ettore Sottsass, who became very important teachers.

Working with these people, he started to understand that people buy some coffee makers and some kettles less because they have to just to make coffee or make water boil, and more for other reasons. But while this change was taking place, the company was still fiercely a family affair, grandfather Alessi the older man in the centre!

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But which reasons? Are there other values in objects besides the functional one? Alessi says: “I’m convinced that people tend to use objects as a mean to satisfy a hidden, big need for art and poetry. A need for art and poetry which is not anymore exclusively fulfilled in a suitable way by the classic instruments of the artistic function (art in museums, poetry in books), a need which stands out from society overbearingly (and so from the market ) and that industry, mass production industry has not understood yet.”



Design Factories versus mass production factories: “It became clear to me (Alessi) that towards the end of this century two main ways of looking at design are emerging: On one side, there is the interpretation of design peculiar to mass production companies, namely design seen as marketing and technological tool, one of the many marketing and technological tools. This interpretation tends to reduce the role of design, to just a tool to help industry to produce more rapidly, at lower costs, or to produce more functional products, or even more to give a better look to products, to invite people to buy them. It’s a ‘gastronomic’ vision of design, where design is looked as a sort of spice, a seasoning to make our food tastier and our products more interesting.”


“The second way to look at design is very peculiar and close to the phenomenon of the Italian Design Factories: design intended as art and poetry. According to these companies design is (let me use an exaggerated expression) is a Mission. It has become a sort of ‘general philosophy’, or ‘Weltauschauung’, marking all the decisions of these companies.”!

The problem of course for Alessi is that the products success in the market place attracts the copyist, and many counterfeit or look alike products now exist.!!

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Alberto Alessi’s key belief is that: ‘the whole industrial system is running the risk of making a world of objects too ordinary, too boring, without emotions, and this just when people, finally free from the hindrances of a conservative culture and from the admonitions of the Modern Movement, have become aware of their wish of art and poetry in all the events of their life.!!This philosophical design direction and the divide it creates, allows Alessi to continue to design unique products that differentiates it from other companies and their products.!!


Alessi went on to say: “In my opinion it is absolutely necessary to turn the process over, and persist in the centrality of the product and of the discipline regulating its creation: design. ‘In that sense, the Design Factories could be a good example. We don’t agree with the role the mass production industry tends to force upon design. We believe that to look at design just as a marketing and technology tool is a too reductive interpretation. Here starts one of designs responsibilities: to prepare a better future.” In IP management strategy Alessi is very selective in what it protects and what defensive legal action it will take.

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Managing the Intellectual Property Assets in a company like Alessi Managing a company like Alessi’s IP assets is more than just acquiring the formal IP rights through the national IP office. Patent or trademark rights are not worth much unless they are adequately exploited. Moreover, part of a company's valuable IP may not require formal registration but may call for other measures of protection (e.g. difficult to manufacture features, high tooling costs or simply efficient marketing channels). Enterprises willing to extract full value from their know-how and creativity should take adequate steps to develop an IP strategy for their business and seek to integrate it within their overall business strategy. This implies including IP considerations when drafting business plans and marketing strategies. A basic IP strategy would include at least the following:


A Policy on IP Acquisition A single product or service may be protected by various forms of IP rights covering different aspects of that product or service. Companies such as Alessi must consider the best protection package and make sure that all the formal rights are acquired as early as possible from its stable of designers. Companies should also bear in mind that creating a comprehensive IP portfolio may be a considerable investment as is the case with Alessi. Companies must carefully assess the costs and benefits of patenting on a case by case basis and develop a strategy/policy on patent acquisitions which is appropriate given their budget and market opportunities.


A Policy on IP Exploitation IP assets may be exploited in a variety of ways. These may include the commercialisation of IP protected products and services; the entering into licensing or franchising agreements; the sale of IP assets to other firms; the creation of joint ventures; the use of IP to obtain access to other companies' technology through cross-licensing agreements; or the use of IP to obtain business finance. Enterprises such as Alessi should decide in each case how they may best exploit their IP assets both domestically and internationally.


A Policy on IP Monitoring Consulting patent and trademark databases regularly is important in order to find out about recent technical developments and new technologies, identify new licensing partners or suppliers, new market opportunities, monitor activities of competitors, identify possible infringers, and avoid infringing competitors' rights. A Policy on IP Enforcement A clear policy on IP enforcement is crucial due to the losses that may be incurred by the existence of counterfeited goods in the market and the high costs involved in some IP disputes.


Some Important Steps to be Considered while Developing an Intellectual Property Strategy Check trademark databases to avoid using an existing trademark and protect trademarks before launching a new product or service with a new brand name. It is important to consider export markets when doing so and avoid using brand names that may have an undesirable meaning in a foreign language. Identify patentable subject matter and make sure it is patented early enough to avoid losing the invention to competitors. Make sure that patentable inventions are not shared with others or published before filing a patent application. In order to meet the patentability criteria inventions must be considered “new”.


Early disclosure of an invention (e.g. through publication) will compromise the chances of the invention being considered new, and therefore patentable. Make sure that trade secrets are kept within the enterprise and prepare, where appropriate, confidentiality agreements when negotiating and sharing information with business partners in order to protect trade secrets. For export-oriented firms, make sure IP is protected in all potential export markets. In the case of patents, it is important to bear in mind that an enterprise generally has 12 months from the date of filing of a national application to file the same patent application in other countries.


When conducting joint research with other enterprises or research institutes, companies need to ensure that there is sufficient clarity on who will own potential IP generated from the research project. Companies need to monitor the market and make sure that their IP assets are not being infringed. If violation of IP rights is detected it is important the company decide in a holistic sense how this affects them and if action is to be taken it is advisable to take legal advice.



On occasions, companies are unaware of the wealth of assets they possess in the form of information, creative ideas and know-how and may, therefore, not take adequate steps to protect them. This checklist is by no means exhaustive. These are some of the basic strategies that have been successfully pursued by enterprises that have fully integrated IP rights into their business strategy. Companies like Alessi, Apple, Volvo, IKEA, Hyundai, Google and others that make new product development the core of their culture have a lot to protect and are often afforded protection by the very nature of their R&D pace. Ref: www.wipo.int www.alessi.com/en/company/storia

Managing Intellectual Property !Management Strategies!!!!VDIS10025 Intellectual Property and Design !

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Vdis10025 lect 4 managing ip management strategies vs1