The Business of Intellectual Property

No longer solely the domain of the legal department, strong intellectual property practices are an integral part of company operations, and require that lawyers understand the fundamentals of business practice and that business executives understand the law. In The Business of Intellectual Property, Chris Arena and Ed Carreras explain the growing importance of intellectual property assets from both legal and business perspectives, and offer strategic advice on how to manage IP assets for competitive advantage, profitability and return on investment. Focusing on the intersection of law and business, The Business of Intellectual Property combines statutory frameworks, case law, business and legal principles of accounting and valuation, and-most impressively- multiple case studies of successful companies, to give readers the strategic vision and practical advice they need to integrate such processes into their company's operations. With extensive experience in the legal departments of major corporations (Coca-Cola, BellSouth, AT&T) as well as firm practice at leading IP specialist Woodcock Washburn, Arena and Carreras are uniquely positioned to demystify the complicated intersection of intellectual property and the business operations upon which it is increasingly built.

Christopher M. Arena is a partner in Woodcock Washburn LLP, a national intellectual property firm with offices in Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Seattle. He is the former Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at Cingular Wireless, where he was responsible for all aspects of intellectual property. Before that, he was Chief Patent Counsel at BellSouth and a founding officer of the BellSouth Intellectual Property Group of companies. He was an integral member of the deal teams that created Cingular Wireless and Cingular's subsequent merger with AT&T Wireless, the largest all-cash merger in history.
Eduardo M. Carreras is of counsel with the Atlanta office of Woodcock Washburn LLP. He is the former Chief Intellectual Property Counsel of the Coca-Cola Company, where he helped establish Coca-Cola's Global Procurement Function. He also led the group responsible for managing the Coca-Cola trademark-often considered the most valuable trademark in the world-and helped the company to embark on an innovative technology and patent licensing program.