INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Kieran Comerford has worked in the area of intellectual property management since joining the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards in 1974. He has vast experience in advising on the best method and timing for protection of new products and processes and in evaluating the protection of competitors' technology.

His experience combines technical, commercial and legal areas and thus he is in a position to give broad strategic advice.

Patent searching is a speciality and a range of databases for patents and trade marks are covered. This service can assist firms and research organisations in finding out whether their proposed ideas are protectable, in avoiding copying existing protected products and processes and in obtaining useful technical information from previous developments. Over one million patents are published each year and patent documents are the best source of technical information in existence. No development programme should be started without carrying out a patent search.