Comprehensive trademark management once required little more than cataloging and defending the distinguishing logos and phrases pasted onto a company's products and letterhead, but the age of online advertising has introduced new complexity to the matter. As web presence begins to factor more prominently into branding strategies, businesses must take care to ensure third parties are not willfully or accidentally taking advantage of any digital blind spots.

Colorado's reputation as a leading promoter of university technology transfer programs was one of several reasons the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office incorporated Denver into its expansion plans last year. The latest success story comes from the University of Colorado - Boulder campus where a team of engineering students have patented a medical device that could soon play a leading role in cancer research.

Choosing the correct intellectual property strategy to pursue can be as important as how that approach is executed. This maxim rings particularly true in the often misunderstood discipline of trade secrets management as many firms struggle to classify and protect their assets accordingly.

With government leaders confirming several cases of industrial espionage in recent months, a new bipartisan report issued by the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property calls for more evolved and aggressive trade secrets management tactics. In total, 21 distinct recommendations were made to both public and private sector stakeholders.

Yahoo turned heads across the tech community this week with the announcement of an ambitious $1.1 billion acquisition of popular social media platform Tumblr. As the two sides sort out the logistics of their impending partnership, the more than 100 million users who currently host blogs on Tumblr are anxiously awaiting potential changes to the site's copyright rules.

Medical device giants Medtronic and Boston Scientific have been at odds with one another over the scope and application of an existing patent licensing agreement. While the burden of proof typically rests with the licensor in these instances, it will soon be up to the Supreme Court to decide exactly who is responsible for proving or disproving infringement in this unique case.

More businesses are coming to see that their intellectual assets are at least as, if not more, important to their continued growth as their financial holdings. But to ensure inventions simultaneously protect the company from competitors and expand its profitability, managers must adopt a more dynamic and detailed approach to identifying the most promising portions of their portfolios.

The so-called smartphone patent wars have brought considerable attention to intellectual asset management as leading names like Apple, Samsung, Motorola and many more continue to employ a variety of elaborate offensive and defensive tactics. While some would suggest that the resultant increase in litigation has hampered innovation, the lessons learned could transcend their specialized setting and help inventors in the green technology sector pursue smarter growth strategies.

Intellectual property awareness is perhaps as high as it's ever been across the business community, and investment priorities are beginning to reflect evolving executive opinions. In a recent global survey conducted by the Legal Exchange Network, corporate intellectual property managers are increasingly willing to look outside of company walls to source the tools and insights that can help defend and grow their portfolios.

The House Committee on Small Business recently invited several prominent academic and industry experts to testify at a hearing centered on recent reforms to the U.S. patent system. While panelists highlighted several significant successes, discussion also touched upon potential hurdles to continued support for small-business interests within the innovation economy.