Gore-Tex Brand

1.Explain what happened to the Gore-Tex brand after the patent expired

When the patent expires the inventor has no longer exclusive rights to her or hers invention opening it up to everyone. At this point other companies can offer competitive products at reduced prices. It seems that Gore-Tex was smart enough to take advantage of their own patent and expand the product line to include other products using the same technology.

2.What activity can firms use to try to maintain any advantage developed during the patent protection phase?

The company can expand their production into the other areas by using the same technology.

3.It seems that Gore Associates is heavily oriented towards technology; what are some of the dangers of being too heavily focused on technology?

When too many projects are going on based on technology the costs can be extremely high and can weigh down the company by tying up resources. It can also make the company loose the sight of the initial goal or come up with too many variables and loose other opportunities.

4.Cooperatives and share-ownership schemes provide too many attractions and benefits, but there are also limitations; discuss these.

There can be too many different opinions, and people may want to go to the different directions if there is no clear goal set by a company management or a leader.

5.In Montenegro Gore-Tex is present through other brands using its technology (such as raincoats, coats, hats, boots, gloves, socks, etc ) I think that young people would be more than happy if they had an opportunity to work for a company like Gore-Tex. One of the main reasons is that most of the companies in Montenegro is hierarchically structured and young people don`t have the right to express their own opinion and ideas.