Intellectual property
Our services concern the management of intellectual property, from the identification of tools for protecting and developing IP assets - as strategic assets for businesses and as drivers of innovation - to the valuation of intangible assets, such as brands, designs, patents, software, and know-how for the purposes of exceptional financial transactions (M&A) and tax relief (through the Italian 'Patent Box' mechanism).
We help our clients find the best strategy to protect intellectual property originating from their research and development activities.
While the most common way of doing this, the patent is not necessarily the most effective and therefore, after defining an appropriate protection strategy, we help our clients submit their patent applications, providing assistance with both the preparation and the drafting of the document.
The Patent Box regime, from 2021 (fiscal period in progress to 22 October 2021 and subsequent fiscal periods) consists in the super deduction of 110% of the costs of R&D, Technological Innovation and Design incurred for the creation and development of sole rights (software covered by copyright, industrial patents, designs and models).
Finally, in the case of exceptional financial transactions (such as mergers and acquisitions, purchases and sales of intangible assets), having an accurate valuation of intangible assets is vital to the success of negotiations. Through careful analysis of the technical and financial aspects of the asset, WIL contributes to ensuring the valuation of the resources being exchanged is reasonable and acceptable to both parties.
Patent
The patent is a tool that allows you to invest in research and development without the anxiety of being robbed of the solution under study.
In fact, unlike the other IP titles, it does not protect the physical realization of a specific product, yet it protects the functionalities and procedures through which it is realized.
This allows you to file a patent application before the final product is completely realized, i.e. during the Research and Development phase.
Secondly, owning a patents means to control:
✔ the production,
✔ the usage
✔ the sale
✔and the importation of the claimed solution within the relevant territory.
In short, it means to control the economical exploitation strategy (direct or in licence) of the solution.
Design
Design, understood as an intangible asset, is a brand development and corporate marketing tool. What does it mean to protect the aesthetic characteristics of a product through design?
1. Acquire commercial and economic value, making company products more attractive to customers;
2. Increase the added value of a product, making it recognizable from the competition;
3. Protect the product against any forms of counterfeiting or imitation, guaranteeing customers a product.
The protection of aesthetics of corporate products therefore constitutes a fundamental strategic tool to make one's company offer superior compared to the standard and becomes a true instrument of business development.
Software
The software as an intellectual work expressed through a writing language is covered by copyright in the same way as a literary or scientific work. The main protection tool is the filing taken from the public SIAE software register, or, if the software has not been published, the filing of an unpublished work.
The latters allow you to objectively demonstrate the existence of the software on a certain date (namely registration date) through a third party and super-partes body.
Filing the software for a patent therefore means laying solid foundations for:
✔ defend against plagiarism
✔ configure the licenses for use, development, modification ... of the software
✔ enable tax breaks such as the patent box
In short, it means controlling the economic exploitation strategy (direct or licensed) of the software.
Know how
Know how is the set of knowledge and skills related to a specific commercial or industrial activity, the knowledge and operational skills essential to carry out certain work activities.
Know How is, therefore, a fundamental asset capable of making the company competitive on the market.
To be successful, it is necessary to know how to enhance, manage and share it within the company structure.
A correct and careful management of know-how provides the company with various advantages, including:
✔ making it competitive with respect to competitors;
✔ developing process and product innovations by decoding experiences and translating them into company assets since their inception;
✔ increasing value and awareness also with respect to investors and customers.