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🎯 IP Management Pulse #65
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Your inbox-insider from Prof. Wurzer every two weeks
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In corporate IP management, two developments are currently reshaping strategic decision-making: the growing integration of digital technologies into physical products and processes, and the increasing importance of intellectual property for scaling innovation.
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Artificial intelligence is making systematic know-how management more important as companies seek to preserve tacit knowledge and make it usable for future employees and digital systems. At the same time, the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court are reshaping European portfolio, enforcement and monetization strategies, while new financing initiatives show why top management must understand IP as a business asset. Technology companies are also learning that AI innovation depends on privacy-by-design, transparent data use and effective control over personal and creative content.
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The themes covered in this issue are not selected editorially. They are derived from the Open Foresight Board (OFB) Trend Radar and from ongoing discussions within the Open Foresight Board, where in-house IP experts continuously exchange perspectives on emerging developments and their implications for corporate IP management.
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The Open Foresight Board is part of the Open Foresight Program and brings together in-house IP experts to identify, discuss, and prioritise emerging developments in corporate IP management.
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This issue presents selected signals that make these developments visible in practice — not as isolated news, but as indicators of broader shifts that require strategic attention. Our aim is to provide orientation by connecting current events with the underlying changes they represent. Here are the hot topics from 2nd of July 2026 – 15th of July 2026:
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NEWS
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Meta Withdraws Its Muse Image Feature | New Financing Support for IP-Rich Businesses | Satya Nadella’s Reverse Information Paradox | The UPC and Life Sciences Portfolio Strategy
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RESOURCES
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OFB Fireside Chat: Know-how Management | OFB Fireside Chat: Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court | OFB Fireside Chat: IP Awareness in Top Management | OFB Fireside Chat: Data Protection and Privacy
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DEEP DIVES
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Why Good Work No Longer Speaks Clearly Enough on Its Own | Controlled Openness Needs an IP Management System: Applying DIN 77006 and ISO 56005 in GreenTech with Dr. Jörn Plettig
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IP MANAGEMENT LEARNINGS
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Open Source at the Wheel: IP Strategy for Software Defined Vehicles
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🤗 🍵 I wish you an exciting and informative read. I look forward to your comments and our exchange on LinkedIn.
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Data Protection and Privacy
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Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that the commercial success of artificial intelligence depends not only on technical performance, but also on whether users understand and accept how their data is used. Features that are technically possible may still fail when consent, control and foreseeable misuse are not sufficiently considered.
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Publicly accessible content should not automatically be treated as freely reusable input for new AI applications. Photographs may contain personal data and enable realistic representations of individuals in contexts they never authorised. The distinction between making content publicly visible and consenting to AI-generated reuse is therefore strategically important.
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Companies should integrate privacy-by-design into product development rather than reviewing data protection only shortly before launch. This requires clear use cases, proportionate defaults, transparent user information, effective controls and an assessment of how AI functionality could affect individuals beyond its intended creative purpose.
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Meta Withdraws Its Muse Image Feature
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Meta discontinued its Muse Image function only days after launch. The feature allowed images to be generated using content from public Instagram accounts and was reportedly activated automatically, prompting criticism from users and SAG-AFTRA over consent and the risk of non-consensual digital replicas. Meta acknowledged that the implementation had failed to meet privacy expectations.
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What IP experts can learn from it
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For IP experts, the case shows that public availability does not eliminate the need to examine consent, data protection, image rights, copyright and contractual platform rules. They should help development teams identify relevant rights before launch, distinguish lawful access from permissible reuse and design governance processes that connect AI innovation with privacy and enforceable control over personal and creative assets.
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Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
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IP Protection of Digital Business Models on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
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IP Awareness in Top Management
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Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that IP awareness at top-management level becomes particularly important when intellectual property affects access to finance. Patents, trademarks, designs, copyright and know-how are not merely legal tools. They can represent central assets behind a company’s competitive position, future revenue and growth prospects.
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However, IP-rich companies often struggle to communicate this value to lenders because their assets are largely intangible. Management must therefore understand what IP the company controls, how it supports products and business models, which competitive advantages it creates and what risks could weaken its commercial value.
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IP awareness should consequently be integrated into financing, investment and growth decisions. Boards that can connect their IP portfolio with market opportunities, cash flows and strategic objectives are better prepared to explain why the company is valuable even when it has limited physical collateral.
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New Financing Support for IP-Rich Businesses
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The British Business Bank has reserved up to £500 million of the current ENABLE Guarantee capacity for funding IP-rich smaller businesses during the following 12 months. The measure is intended to improve financing availability and pricing while strengthening lenders’ ability to evaluate businesses whose value depends substantially on intangible assets.
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What IP Experts Can Learn from It
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For IP experts, the initiative shows that top management needs more than lists of registered rights. IP professionals should help translate portfolios, brands and know-how into evidence of competitive advantage, revenue potential and manageable risk. This makes IP reporting relevant not only for legal protection, but also for financing discussions and strategic management decisions.
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Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
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IP in Startups and SMEs on the 📑IP Management Letters
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Know-how Management
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Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that artificial intelligence is creating a new category of strategically relevant know-how. Companies must manage not only the information entered into AI systems, but also the organisational learning generated through their repeated use.
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Prompts, corrections, evaluations, workflows and model feedback can reveal how employees analyse problems, apply experience and improve decisions. Over time, these interactions may capture valuable tacit knowledge that was previously held primarily by individual experts or embedded informally in working practices.
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Effective know-how management must therefore address where this learning accumulates, who can access it and whether it remains available when models or providers change. AI governance should connect technical architecture, contractual safeguards, confidentiality controls and systematic knowledge-transfer processes.
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Satya Nadella’s Reverse Information Paradox
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently warned that companies may effectively pay for AI twice: financially for access and strategically through the knowledge transferred while making the systems useful. Reactions from AI leaders showed broad agreement that AI-generated learning is valuable, although some argued that existing enterprise safeguards already limit data retention and model training.
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What IP experts can learn from it
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For IP experts, the case expands know-how management beyond protecting documents and input data. They should also examine prompts, corrections, evaluations, AI memories and workflows as potentially valuable knowledge assets, clarify ownership and permitted use contractually, and ensure that the organisation retains control of the learning created through its own employees and processes.
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Background information on the IPBA Connect platform
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AI in IP Departments: From Routine Efficiency to Strategic IP Management on the 📑IP Management Letters
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Unified Patent Court
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Discussions within the Open Foresight Board show that the Unified Patent Court is becoming relevant far beyond litigation. In life sciences, its expected treatment of validity, infringement and remedies can influence how investors, licensees and buyers assess a patent portfolio before any proceedings begin.
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Centralised enforcement can increase the commercial leverage of patents covering medicines, diagnostics, medical devices or manufacturing processes across participating European markets. The same mechanism, however, creates centralised vulnerability because an important patent may also be revoked through a single action.
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UPC readiness must therefore become part of portfolio and transaction strategy. Companies should examine claim strength, opt-out status, SPC dependencies and enforceability before fundraising, licensing, partnering or acquisition discussions.
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The UPC and Life Sciences Portfolio Strategy
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A recent analysis following the BIO International Convention in San Diego argues that the UPC is increasingly helping determine the price of life-sciences IP assets. A portfolio with credible cross-border enforcement potential may support a valuation premium, while weak patent validity prospects can reduce transactional value.
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What IP Experts Can Learn from It
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For IP experts, the case shows that UPC analysis should not remain an appendix to litigation planning. They must translate enforceability and central revocation exposure into information that management, investors and negotiation teams can evaluate, while managing portfolios, contractual rights and technical evidence to support both commercial transactions and potential proceedings.
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Resources on the IPBA Connect platform
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Global IP protection strategies in the life sciences industry on the digital IP lexicon 🧭dIPlex
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In the resources of the Open Foresight Program, in-house IP experts find structured insights and practitioner-driven analyses developed with and by the OFB members, highlighting emerging trends, strategic signals, and real-world implications for corporate IP management that can be translated into actionable guidance for their own organisations.
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OFB Fireside Chat: Know-how Management
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AI makes systematic know-how management more important, not less. Companies must preserve the tacit knowledge of experienced employees and make it usable for future teams and digital systems.
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The Fireside Chat will address knowledge transfer, documentation, confidentiality, AI training and the organisational processes needed to retain technical expertise without losing context and professional judgement.
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OFB Fireside Chat: Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court
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The Unified Patent Court is becoming a permanent element of European patent strategy. Companies must consider its impact not only in litigation, but also in portfolio management, licensing and valuation.
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The Fireside Chat will explore UPC readiness, central revocation risks, opt-out decisions, evidence preparation and the identification of patents that provide real commercial leverage across Europe.
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OFB Fireside Chat: IP Awareness in Top Management
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IP increasingly influences financing, investment, competitive positioning and corporate value. Management therefore needs more than legal reports: it needs a clear understanding of IP’s contribution to business objectives and strategic risk.
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The Fireside Chat will focus on board-level IP communication, portfolio value, investor readiness and how IP teams can translate legal assets into relevant management information.
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OFB Fireside Chat: Data Protection and Privacy
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AI and data-driven business models increase the importance of privacy-by-design. Data protection can no longer be treated only as a compliance review shortly before product launch.
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The Fireside Chat will address AI training data, consent, platform governance, contractual safeguards and the interaction between privacy, intellectual property, innovation and user trust.
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Visible Council - the IP Expert Branding Column
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Why Good Work No Longer Speaks Clearly Enough on Its Own
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By columnist Giulia Donato, Branding & Communication Consultant at people and brand strategies
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Excellent work remains the foundation of credibility, but it no longer communicates its value automatically. In increasingly competitive and technology-driven IP markets, clients need to understand not only what an expert does, but when their judgement matters and what business decisions it supports. Generic service descriptions and credentials rarely create differentiation. Effective communication therefore makes expertise recognisable before a mandate begins by linking specialist knowledge to concrete client situations, risks and opportunities. The goal is not louder self-promotion, but clearer relevance. IP experts who articulate their perspective, strategic contribution and problem-solving value help clients understand whom to trust and why.
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My Favorite from the 📝IP Business Academy Blog
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Controlled Openness Needs an IP Management System: Applying DIN 77006 and ISO 56005 in GreenTech with Dr. Jörn Plettig
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GreenTech innovation depends not only on sustainable technologies, but on managing the intellectual property distributed across patents, trade secrets, data, software, contracts and partnerships. DIN 77006 and ISO 56005 help companies embed IP into innovation management through defined responsibilities, documented processes, risk controls and continuous improvement. This supports controlled openness: sharing enough knowledge to collaborate, finance and scale while retaining ownership of commercially critical assets. For GreenTech companies, professional IP governance strengthens due diligence, investor confidence, freedom-to-operate planning and partner negotiations. It turns isolated inventions into scalable, defensible systems that combine openness, protection and competitive control across complex industrial ecosystems.
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In the 📑IP Management Letter series, IP experts find case-based narratives that show how strategic IP management works in real companies and industries, with practical insights they can directly apply to their own portfolios and client work.
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Open Source at the Wheel: IP Strategy for Software Defined Vehicles
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Software-defined vehicles require a hybrid IP strategy combining open-source foundations with proprietary differentiation. Companies must manage licences, software provenance, supply-chain transparency, cybersecurity, patents, trade secrets and contribution policies. Effective IP management becomes part of software architecture, helping firms benefit from shared platforms while retaining control over interfaces, data and customer relationships.
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