“Intellectual property is the oil of the 21st century.” (Mark Getty)

 

Mark Getty’s family know plenty about oil and its value. His grandfather was J Paul Getty. But interestingly, Mark Getty is the principal investor in Getty Images, a purveyor of copyrighted images. With the explosion of the worldwide web since the 1990s, Mark Getty has demonstrated the power of his statement with a very lucrative company.

 

AgritecKnowledge takes intellectual property seriously. Our principals have written and prosecuted almost 400 issued patents, licenced many of them and built business portfolios that have resulted in trade-sales to major agribusiness corporations, where many of their patents have resulted in commercial products.

 

The pivotal nature of patents, trademarks and brands, copyrights and, in agriculture, plant breeders’ rights needs to be understood for start-ups, larger companies and public research organizations that are intended to contribute to economic development.

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Intellectual property development must be a pro-active, strategic activity. It may serve a reactive ‘defensive’ purpose, but this is secondary to its major purpose: to provide the assignees or owners of patents or trademarks with a legal monopoly, which affords them a major competitive advantage.

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