It seems somewhat silly to publish a book filled with pictures of nothing but trademarks; after all, how useful can a book be that deliberately shows pictures of the things that already permeate everyday life? There are trademarks on the clothes I wear, on my coffee cup, and on nearly every product I see on store shelves. One would be hard-pressed to find a more ubiquitous subject matter.

You wouldn’t be wrong to ask such questions, however, Marks of Excellence is much more than a catalog of brand logos. Revised and expanded for its latest edition, the book is filled with over 1,000 color illustrations, each one carefully selected to be an object lesson on some aspect of trademarks the purpose they serve. Used as a launching pad, this collection of trademarks is able to draw connections and bring insight to almost every aspect of their use. Read more…

In the building industry, architecture and engineering firms are full of talented people who solve complex problems as a matter of routine. So why are their IP portfolios virtually empty?

I spent most of my working life in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology sectors. I specialized in intellectual property after spells in research and then commercial roles. For ten years I was the director of the Intellectual Property Institute. In 2010 I joined Billings Jackson Design as business director.

I have had less than three years experience in my new industry sector so, clearly, I claim no great knowledge or insight, but maybe it’s useful to get a picture of an industry from the perspective of an outsider so, here goes…

Firms of architects and engineers operating in the building industry use and generate considerable intellectual resources. They are usually staffed with highly qualified, motivated professionals with a mixture of creative and technical expertise, which is not matched in many industry sectors, if any. It is surprising, to me at least, that these intellectual resources are rarely identified, valued, managed and effectively exploited within such firms.

Problem solving (generating good ideas) is the life-blood of the industry, but these good ideas are seldom captured, managed, and exploited internally in a structured and effective manner. They are almost never exploited externally, traded with third parties as the subject of formal intellectual property rights. This is not generally the case in companies that are heavily reliant on scientific or technical expertise, where the role of intellectual property protection (through patents and trademarks) in justifying and enabling R&D investment is well understood.

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