Assignment:
Intellectual property
Introduction
This assignment is a case study that asks you, individually, to submit a report on how to protect intellectual property. Please read all instructions and requirements carefully.
Learning Outcomes
This assignment allows you to demonstrate progress towards achieving the following Learning Outcomes:
Demonstrate evidence of enhanced personal knowledge, skills and competencies relevant to the management of engineering entrepreneurship
- Analyse and evaluate intellectual property requirements associated with commercial innovation
- Communication: using oral, written and interpersonal communication to inform, motivate and effect change
- Digital literacy: Digital literacy: using technologies to find, use and disseminate information
- Critical thinking: evaluating information using critical and analytical thinking and judgment
- Problem solving: creating solutions to authentic (real world and illdefined) problems
I encourage you to review other Unit and Graduate Learning Outcomes to discover, and include, additional learning outcomes important to you personally, and which will increase the quality of your submission and end-of-trimester final results.
Case Study Task
You are working as a Business Development Manager for an Australian company, "AusGear", which is specialised in design and manufacturing of various gearboxes that uses a highly innovative design and manufacturing process.
Due to limited manufacturing expansion in Australia and increasing trend of outsourcing, your company has identified potential market opportunities in Asia. As an expansion strategy, the company has sent you to India to market and demonstrate your highly specialised gear boxes. The market is huge in India due to consistent and substantial growth of automotive manufacturing.
During your visit, you discover that other rival Asian companies have also responded to market demand and is selling what appears to be a similar range of gear boxes, but using a different design concept.
AusGear CEO, who is your line manager, asks you, as a matter of priority, to write a report to inform him, based on your research and analysis, what the company needs to do to best protect its Intellectual Property in Australia, and also in the wider Asia-Pacific region, especially in India and China.
Submission Requirements
• This assignment: This individual task asks you to submit a written report using an appropriate academic writing style. For more information refer to Deakin's "Writing an Academic Assignment", available online
• Word limit is 1500 words maximum - not including the References section. The word count is a guide to encourage you to write succinctly (this means writing in a way in which each word matters) but not at the expense of good, solid research and analysis. The aim, for all report writing, is to be brief, yet fully informative, and must contain all the information needed to understand a situation and take action. It is acceptable to be 10% above or below this word limit. The word limit does not include the References section
• File Format: The submitted report file format must be MS Word (.doc or .docx)
• Format: Use a format that makes it easy for your reader to readily read and understand the information. Also, use a basic and common text font such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman with at least 11 point font size for body text with single-spaced paragraphs.
• Citations and referencing: As in all professional reports, the reader will look for the presence of an appropriate number of relevant citations as they reflect the range and depth of your research. Cite these correctly in-text and list them in a Reference Section using an accepted referencing style such as the Harvard or IEEE.
• Be professional. Plagiarism and collusion are academic offences. They are forms of cheating, and severe penalties are associated with them, including cancellation of marks for a specific assignment. If you are unsure what constitutes plagiarism, cheating, or collusion then refer to the online Assessment section in the 2015 Handbook.
• Want some help? Online and in-person resources and materials are available from the Library and Deakin's Study Support Services to assist you with assignment writing, referencing skills, and with understanding and avoiding plagiarism.