Intellectual Paranoia

 

I've copied and pasted this. It comes from 100%Open. Anyone reading this from a publishing/content perspective is bound to have a view. 

I wonder: if publishers and others are confident in their own creativity and business processes, i.e they know that they can deliver their output to market better and quicker than anyone else,  do they have to worry about ring fencing their intellectual property? Instead of building walls, be nomadic about your inventions and keep moving on to the next thing! 

If you need continuous creativity for your digital and online strategy, eezap.com might be a good place to start.

Anyway here is the article...

IP = Intellectual Paranoia

There are two schools of thought on whether Intellectual Property helps or hinders innovation.
The traditional argument is that the ability to own the rights to an invention ensures that your years of hard work generate some payback.  It’s hard to see big pharma companies ever abandoning this model for example if they stick to their current blockbuster-based business model.  It’s also hard to see the likes of James Dyson or Apple giving up on their closed and secretive ways of working.  But how curious that 21st century businesses like these are stuck in an 18th century paradigm.  So is IP just intellectual paranoia?

 (photo credit to blather.net)

The counter-argument is that most innovation is collaborative by nature and that therefore secrecy and isolation hinder product and service development.  Furthermore, an open approach to ownership is often likely to help embed and rapidly spread a new product.  This is why Hoovers will never be called Dysons or PCs Macs.  The case of how Microsoft’s operating system grew to dominate the world is moot.  Apple protected theirs jealously and became a niche player in the computer market as a result.  (Quite a successful game of catch-up ever since of course!) Nevertheless the sight of Apple and Samsung suing each other over tiny product features is undignified and makes me, for one, a little less fond of both brands.
So where does 100%Open stand?  We believe that innovation isn’t just about IP.  It’s about generating value for those who invent and commercialise new products.  This is important because the sole reliance on IP (and its retinue of self-interested and expensive consultants) can get in the way.  Consider P&G who are committed to open innovation.   Even they won’t have ‘confidential conversations’ which leads to them missing out of many unpatented ideas for fear of later complications.  This is why we invented (but haven’t protected!) the airlock process.  But of course we don’t advocate completely abandoning IP.  Here’s our open business model spiral for example.  There are many ways to form productive partnerships and some, e.g. cross licensing do depend on IP whereas others don’t.

It’s a staggering fact that 80% of the UK economy is based on services rather than manufacturing.  Much of the innovation 100%Open helps with is in this service arena where it’s hard to get a patent or design right although easier to assert copyright or register a trade mark.  So our advice is often to create mutual dependencies that aren’t reliant on IP but matched capabilities or the joint delivery of a service.  This way collaborators are free to turn their attention to creating value for the customer and themselves rather than arm-wrestling over ownership.
So in a connected world where is it becoming pointless to try to innovate alone, a reliance on developing and protecting IP looks increasingly like Intellectual Paranoia.  We need more sophisticated ways of making products and services that depend on cooperation and mutual help.
Leaving aside the weirdness that is patenting human DNA and without entering into the controversial realm of medicine patents there’s one question that should be bothering all inventors.  Should you spend your life suing obscure Chinese factories for patent infringement or could you be leading the creation of whole new markets faster than anyone can follow?
David Simoes-Brown
PS as you might imagine, it’s our policy not to over-protect 100%Open stuff so this and all our blogs are Creative Commons.   So go ahead and steal with pride!  It would be nice if you mention us though.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Hone your Hunter Gatherer Technique

“People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they'll go to any length to live longer. But don't think that's the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you're going to while away the years, it's far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive then in a fog, and I believe running helps you to do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that's the essence of running, and a metaphor for life — and for me, for writing as whole. I believe many runners would agree”

― HarukiMurakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

I practiced what I preached in my previous blog. I spent Christmas staring at customer databases, and only survived by running. At least twice per week. 

The best run I had was an hour and 45 minutes long around the hills of North Dorset, in the Sun, on the snow. Fantastic: out there on your own, in the dead sound of winter. Like Murakami, I find running clarifies goals for me. Clear goals will definitely help you as you set up your marketing strategy. 

Running is also a goal in itself, and supremely clear goal. Sometimes work and business can seem awfully muddy and out of control, especially in a recession. So give yourself something you can control, completely control, minute by minute: a running plan.

Plan something like three runs in one week. Make sure you do them, don’t let anything get in your way. Whatever happens at work or in your business, at the end of the week there’s something you can hold up to yourself as having turned out as you planned it.

I like to take a couple of other things from running too. 

Firstly, running brings out the cave man in me. When I’m on my own in some silent shadowy wood, 45 minutes from home, I can really get into hunter gatherer mode. I can imagine that I’ve been stalking something for hours and that I better kill it and get it home, because that’s the only food there is for my family in the middle of winter.

At the end of the day isn’t that what running  a business is about?  Peel back the IT issues, balancing your books, dealing with Health and Safety, manipulating databases or restocking the stationery cupboard. That’s NOT what business is about. Business is about putting food on the table.

Secondly there is a technique to running effectively, and the technique is different depending on what you’re trying to achieve. Many think that running is putting a foot in front of the other quickly, and most runners out there probably never thought to explore their technique. But if you want to run well, then learn how. 

Rip up what you think running is and follow this link: POSE.  Then start looking up other coaches’ tips on running and it won’t be long before you’re overwhelmed with technique choices and decisions. Check out Born to Run too.

Running your business is the same. Most people can carry out every part of a business averagely well. But a top business makes sure its people can excel at their functions. And if you can’t get the best people or the best techniques under your roof, try hiring them from outside. 

If it’s digital and online marketing you want to excel at then try eezap.com. (You knew it was going to end with a plug right?)