Intellectual property strategy for small business, Semiconductor industry as case study

Abstract: Intellectual properties are the valuable assets of each company, especially small to medium size enterprises are very dependent on intellectual properties to grow and compete. Usually, these companies have lots of Intellectual properties to protect, and it is important to protect them, and a well organised strategy is a great tool to manage this. This thesis studies IP strategy as a powerful tool for business development and reviews different sectors of Intellectual properties, including patent, Trademark, Copyright and Trade secret and explores different strategies that a company can make in order to reach its business goals. Semiconductor industry as a fast growing and high demand technology will be investigated and IP in its different sectors will be studied. As a case study, intellectual properties in AlixLabs AB, a Lund university spin-off start-up, active in research and development sector of semiconductor industry was studied. The finding of this thesis shows that a company with a well-developed intellectual property strategy will be most likely to survive the hard competition and succeed in its journey. Intellectual properties especially patent and trade secrets are very important for the companies active in the semiconductor industry, and it is very important for small companies active in this field to protect themselves against giant companies active in the field.