CBM: TK Kerstetter, president, Corporate Board Member magazine
Gonzalez: Cecilia H. Gonzalez, partner, Howrey LLP
CBM: As globalization in U.S. companies becomes more widespread, one of management’s and the board’s challenges will be how to create, preserve, and leverage intellectual property worldwide. American companies are better at creating new intellectual property than any other country, but many companies fail to legally protect their intellectual property. What would you say to the board to help them recognize the importance of intellectual property?
Gonzalez: In order for companies to become more international and compete in a world market, they have to be able to protect their intellectual property in all those markets. That’s a given. I think most U.S. boards today recognize that if they are funding R&D in developing intellectual property, then they have to take the steps to protect that intellectual property, be it by obtaining patents, copyrights, or trademarks on those rights. But, you’re correct that a lot of those companies don’t then take the additional step of thinking worldwide. They might think, “Do I really want to go and take this U.S. patent or trademark and get the same kind of protection in other markets? I may be in Europe in the future but I’m not there right now, so why do I want to spend the money doing that? I may not be in Asia right now. And, by the way, everybody says that a patent in Asia is not worth the paper it’s on so I don’t want to do that.”
See full Interview.
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