The Handbook of European Intellectual Property Management shows companies how to create value from their patents, trade marks, designs, copyrights, and knowledge bases. It also offers advice to business support organizations seeking to promote their services to executives and entrepreneurs who are concerned about IP issues. Drawing on a wide range of expertise, the Handbook reveals how IP contributes to improved competitive performance and to greater value on the balance sheet, and also offers a template of ''best practice'' in IP management. Practical and easy-to-follow, it explains clearly the multitude of legal rights and processes involved, and it takes managers through the cycle of IP: how to create IP; how to secure and protect it; how to use yours or someone else's; and how to manage IP most profitably.