Still struggling for gift ideas this Christmas? IP Whiteboard may have the answer… IP is a very fashionable gift at the moment and, what’s more, because it is inherently intangible, it won’t even take up any of your storage space. We are therefore proud to present to you: IP Whiteboard’s 2012 Christmas gift guide, with advice for all those impossible-to-buy-for friends and family.
Shopping for: Giant technology company – price range: $400 million – $1 billion
What do you buy for the tech
company that has it all? Well, patents are very chic this season, with in-crowd companies Apple and Google reportedly combining forces to snap up more than
US$500 million worth of patents out of bankruptcy from Kodak.
Kodak has as much as $2.21-$2.57 billion worth of patents on the market as part of its attempts to shed assets whilst under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. But if you want to put some of this so-hot-right-now digital imaging IP under your tree this Christmas, you had better move fast – Kodak apparently intends to exit bankruptcy protection in early 2013. So get in quick.
Shopping for: Popular brand– price range: $50 – $1,000
Are you a really charismatic and popular brand, a true delight to have over for Christmas lunch? If so, you may want to reward yourself for Christmas by registering online domain names for common misspellings of your brand name.
The reason that this is such a great gift idea is that as a well-known brand, it’s a great defensive strategy to protect yourself against a business tactic known as “typosquatting”, or domain mimicry. Typosquatting involves registering domain names that are misspellings of popular brands in order to leech off their web traffic and search engine results.
You might think buying yourself protection against typosquatting is about as exciting a gift as socks and jocks, but future you will thank past you when the thoughtful gift saves you the bother and expense of seeking to have mimicking domain names removed.
For example, if you are Coca Cola, why not register cokacola.com.au and slip it into your own Christmas stocking this festive season? But make sure you label the gift card correctly, because buying a misspelled brand domain name for someone other than the brand itself could lead to a complaint for typosquatting.
Shopping for: Infant aged 0-1 – price range: $120 – saddling a child with a ‘unique’ name for life
In February this year, we reported that Beyoncé and Jay-Z had sought to register a trademark over the name of their newborn baby, Blue Ivy. Here at IP Whiteboard, we are ardent believers in the maxim that if a celebrity power couple does something we should do it too.
So if you have a recently-added bundle of joy in your family this Christmas, bear in mind that it could cost as little as $120 (okay, maybe a bit more all up) to apply to have your little angel’s name protected by trade mark law. After all, every proud parent should plan a pending birth by developing a baby clothing range. Don’t forget that trade marks have to be distinctive enough to distinguish goods or services from those of competitors, so your baby will need a pretty unconventional name to guarantee your trade mark application’s success.
What’s that you say? Trade marking her name will make it even harder for little Petal Blossom Rainbow to seek that career in nuclear physics? Well, be that as it may, sometimes you need to make sacrifices to become a truly respected Christmas shopper.
Merry Christmas and happy shopping from the IP Whiteboard team.