INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION METHODS
If the innovative goods, services and practices are readily available to competitors, then the market advantage can be lost. Formal and informal methods are used to protect the intellectual property of businesses. The registration of patents has been used by analysts to compare innovation at the international level. Businesses were not asked to report the number of times each of the methods was used. The focus in this release is on innovation-active businesses and the types of intellectual property protection methods they reported, however, the complete data for all businesses will be released as part of Selected Characteristics of Australian Business, 2008-09 (cat. no. 8167.0).
INNOVATION-ACTIVE BUSINESSES: Intellectual property protection methods(a)(b), by employment size, 2008 - 09 |
|
 | 0-4 persons | 5-19 persons | 20-199 persons | 200 or more persons | Total |
| % | % | % | % | % |
|
| Patents | 2.5 | 4.3 | 8.2 | 20.2 | 4.0 |
| Registration of design | 4.5 | 4.1 | 7.2 | 16.2 | 4.8 |
| Copyright or trademark | 14.4 | 19.1 | 23.0 | 46.7 | 17.5 |
| Secrecy/confidentiality agreements(c) | 21.4 | 25.3 | 28.3 | 44.4 | 23.9 |
| Complexity of product design | 10.2 | 5.2 | 6.7 | 9.2 | 7.9 |
| Any intellectual property protection methods used | 32.9 | 39.9 | 45.0 | 67.4 | 37.2 |
| No intellectual property protection methods used | 67.1 | 60.1 | 55.0 | 32.6 | 62.8 |
|
| (a) Proportions are of innovation-active businesses in each employment size category. |
| (b) Businesses could identify more than one type of intellectual property protection method. |
| (c) Secrecy includes electronic protection methods. |
Over 60% of innovation-active businesses reported
no intellectual property protection methods used. Businesses employing 0-4 persons were more than twice as likely not to protect their intellectual property (67%) than businesses employing 200 or more persons (33%).
Of the 37% of innovation-active businesses who utilised protection methods for their business' intellectual property, the most common form of protection in use was
secrecy/confidentiality agreements (24%).
Innovation-active businesses within the Construction industry were least likely to have any form of intellectual protection in place during the year ended 30 June 2009, with 79% indicating
no intellectual property protection methods used. In contrast, almost two thirds (64%) of Information media and telecommunications businesses reported some form of intellectual property protection method.
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