Sustainability

An emerging technology offers potential for groundbreaking innovation and resulting intellectual

property protection. The whole area of sustainability is no exception. Sustainability, as it is

currently embraced, challenges technologic innovation in nearly every branch of science and

engineering.

What is Sustainability?

What is Sustainability? The definitions for “sustainability” are nearly as numerous as the industries and special interests they touch. Definitions generally vary according to what portion of the supply chain is under discussion. For many, sustainability means producing the same products and services with less material and less energy. For others, sustainability means finding renewable energy and raw material sources to produce their products and services, with a view toward future demands of a growing global population. Still others address sustainability as finding ways to reduce waste products emitted in the production of their goods and services. Intertwined in these definitions is a theme of reducing the overall carbon footprint. Regardless of definition or application of concept, nearly every sustainability initiative launches opportunity for technologic innovation and creation of new intellectual property.

                                              Contracts & Employee Agreements

A contract is the result of an offer and an acceptance, with due consideration being
offered in return for performance.

Many contracts result in a transfer of intellectual property. A software license is an obvious
example of such a contract. However, in today’s ever increasing recognition of intellectual
property, many, if not most, business contracts involve at least some intellectual property.

A services contract may involve a contractor who provides a patented process, copyrighted
operations manuals, or the contractor’s exposure to your trade secrets. What happens if the
contractor invents or improves some aspect of your business? Does the contract stipulate who
owns the improvement or invention?

If you license a computer program to run a portion of your business, what happens if the seller’s
computer program is practicing a patented process owned by someone else? Who pays for
defending against an infringement? Who pays to provide an alternate computer program that is not
infringing?

If someone writes a training manual for your business, do you automatically own the rights to that
manual?

Who owns the rights to the company’s website and domain names? Are the hosting and website
construction contracts clear?

If an employee creates artistic or engineering designs, or invents or improves a portion of the
business, is there an employee invention policy and agreement in place?

These and many other examples illustrate a typically overlooked aspect that intellectual property
brings to increasing company worth and mitigating risk exposure.
On a final note, most contracts can be described as having three components: compensation,
scope of work or product, and legal protections. It is difficult for the other components to make up
for a deficiency in any component. For example, a poorly defined compensation or scope of work
can not be fixed by legal clauses and vice versa. Contract evaluation is a process of looking at all
three components to identify their interactions and possible deficiencies.