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Click here to agree: Managing intellectual property when crowdsourcing solutions

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  • de Beer, Jeremy
  • McCarthy, Ian P.
  • Soliman, Adam
  • Treen, Emily

Abstract

Tapping into the creativity of a crowd can provide a highly efficient and effective means of acquiring ideas, work, and content to solve problems. But crowdsourcing solutions can also come with risks, including the legal risks associated with intellectual property. Therefore, we raise and address a two-part question: Why—and how—should organizations deal with intellectual property issues when engaging in the crowdsourcing of solutions? The answers lie in understanding the approaches for acquiring sufficient intellectual property from a crowd and limiting the risks of using that intellectual property. Herein, we discuss the hazards of not considering these legal issues and explain how managers can use appropriate terms and conditions to balance and mitigate the risks associated with soliciting solutions from a crowd. Based on differences in how organizations acquire intellectual property and limit associated risks, we identify and illustrate with examples four approaches for managing intellectual property (passive, possessive, persuasive, and prudent) when crowdsourcing solutions. We conclude with recommendations for how organizations should use and tailor the approaches in our framework to source intellectual property from a crowd.

Suggested Citation

  • de Beer, Jeremy & McCarthy, Ian P. & Soliman, Adam & Treen, Emily, 2017. "Click here to agree: Managing intellectual property when crowdsourcing solutions," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 207-217.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:60:y:2017:i:2:p:207-217
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2016.11.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Prpić, John & Shukla, Prashant P. & Kietzmann, Jan H. & McCarthy, Ian P., 2015. "How to work a crowd: Developing crowd capital through crowdsourcing," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 77-85.
    2. Nikolaus Franke & Peter Keinz & Katharina Klausberger, 2013. "“Does This Sound Like a Fair Deal?”: Antecedents and Consequences of Fairness Expectations in the Individual’s Decision to Participate in Firm Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(5), pages 1495-1516, October.
    3. Berthon, Pierre R. & Pitt, Leyland F. & McCarthy, Ian & Kates, Steven M., 2007. "When customers get clever: Managerial approaches to dealing with creative consumers," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 39-47.
    4. Kietzmann, Jan H. & Hermkens, Kristopher & McCarthy, Ian P. & Silvestre, Bruno S., 2011. "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 241-251, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Wilson, Jeremy M. & Grammich, Clifford A., 2020. "Brand protection across the enterprise: Toward a total-business solution," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 363-376.
    2. Foege, J. Nils & Lauritzen, Ghita Dragsdahl & Tietze, Frank & Salge, Torsten Oliver, 2019. "Reconceptualizing the paradox of openness: How solvers navigate sharing-protecting tensions in crowdsourcing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1323-1339.
    3. B. Senakumari Arunnima & Dharmaseelan Bijulal & R. Sudhir Kumar, 2023. "Open Innovation Intellectual Property Risk Maturity Model: An Approach to Measure Intellectual Property Risks of Software Firms Engaged in Open Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Piazza, Mariangela & Mazzola, Erica & Perrone, Giovanni, 2022. "How can I signal my quality to emerge from the crowd? A study in the crowdsourcing context," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    5. O’Donnell, Jonathan, 2022. "Administration of crowdfunding at Australian universities," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 33-42.
    6. Jurgen Poesche & Taina Pihlajarinne & Anette Alén-Savikko & Timo Nyberg & Ilkka Kauranen, 2019. "Decentralized Production: The Need for Social Norms-Based Intellectual Property?," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(02), pages 1-18, April.
    7. E.M. Akhmetshin & A.V. Pavlyuk & V.V. Ling & D.V. Medovnikova & R.H. Azieva, 2018. "Innovative Intellectual Property Products: The Case of Russian Federation," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 3), pages 303-316.
    8. Ghasemzadeh, Khatereh & Bortoluzzi, Guido & Yordanova, Zornitsa, 2022. "Collaborating with users to innovate: A systematic literature review," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    9. Robson, Karen & de Beer, Jeremy & McCarthy, Ian P., 2020. "Open branding: Managing the unauthorized use of brand-related intellectual property," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 773-785.
    10. Swanand J. Deodhar & Samrat Gupta, 2023. "The Impact of Social Reputation Features in Innovation Tournaments: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(1), pages 178-193, March.
    11. Mills, Adam J. & Berthon, Pierre R. & Pitt, Christine, 2020. "Agile authorship: Evolving models of innovation for information-intensive offerings," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 577-583.

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