App aids intellectual property protection

No billable hours: The free app lets businesses check on their IP protection

The IP Health Check app is available as a free download from the Apple store and allows business owners to review their IP protection.

In the fiscal year 2010, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that the nation’s IP is valued at more than $170 billion, while in the United States IP is worth more than the total value of physical property.

Downie says IP can be as valuable to a business as its physical assets but it is not always adequately protected.

“IP protection is far too valuable to be ignored, so if this helps keep issues at the forefront it will be of benefit,” he says.

The Health Check is a quick and easy way for owners to assess this.

“The app considers key issues relating to their IP and technology procurement in a matter of minutes and then generates a customised report of recommendations based on the user’s responses,” Downie says.

“We see apps like this as being as popular as company websites within the next five years and expect a strong take-up from the business community.”

It took six months to develop the app, which has been available for a month. “Lots of our clients have used it out of curiosity and have been surprised their house isn’t quite in order as they’d expected,” he says.

The app is the brainchild of Downie and fellow IP partner Malcolm McBratney and is the product of client demand for user-friendly technology. After working on many app development agreements for clients Downie says creating one themselves seemed like a smart way to share their expertise.

“iPads are the technology that we see our staff and clients embracing and in a sense we’re taking our own advice about working with that and letting our IP educate them without having to be face to face,” Downie says.

“It’s not cutting-edge technology necessarily, it just took a bit of imagination about how to apply our existing legal knowledge.”

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