Brand portfolios continue to grow across the globe at a swift rate. With this expansion, it is now readily accepted in the marketplace that a company’s brand is one of its key assets. The nineties saw a flurry of registrations of various forms of brand intellectual property, and now the decade of the ‘‘noughties’’ is also witnessing more emphasis on protecting these brands so as to maximise their

commercial value. It is essential for businesses to recognise brand value and implement measures to protect and commercially exploit this valuable form of intellectual property.

This article demonstrates the importance of brand protection and outlines some ways to maximise brand value. In particular, there are a variety of legal and

commercial mechanisms which allow an intellectual property holder to capitalise brand value through registration, enforcement and commercialisation.