65 ISSN 2312-847X ЕКОНОМІКА ХАРЧОВОЇ ПРОМИСЛОВОСТІ Том 11, Випуск 4/2019 UDC 339.166.5:005:378 Kyazim Panar Ph.D. Department of Marketing and Management VUZF University str .Gusla, 1, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1618 e-mail: p.kiazim@gmail.com ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7694-5105 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AS PART OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY By the end of the 20 th century, economy had been developing as a classic one. As we entered the new century and the ever changing economic environment, traditional economy is no more actual. Time has come for the so-called knowledge economy which focuses almost exclusively on intangible assets. Among these, are of most value intellectual property items. Factors such as land, machines, buildings and other tangible assets are not so important anymore. Intangi- ble assets based on knowledge, experience, creativity, innovations, technological advancement are on the forefront of economic progress and are defined as intellectual property. As such, the ownership and effective management and protection of intellectual property is vital to all companies and their success. Keywords: intellectual property, intellectual property management, knowledge economy, importance of intellectual property, effective management of intellectual property. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Statement of the problem and its connection with important scientific and practical tasks. Know- ledge economy is an economic system, in which the pro- duction and services are based on actions concerning knowledge. Main assets for creating services and prod- ucts in knowledge economy are intangibles as technolo- gies, scientific achievements, innovations [8]. Since the birth of economic thought the rules for the functioning of economic units have followed one and the same logic. What has been changing was only the environment in which they had to exist and work. With the transition to knowledge economy though – a phenomenon which basi- cally changed the history and the conditions for develop- ment in and of the economic environment – the tradition- al factors such as land, labour, machines and buildings, have lost their significance for the economic activities and thus, gradually, was determined the need of a new orientation towards other factors there. These new fac- tors, which are of exceptional significance for the correct functioning of the economic units and also a moving me- chanism of modern knowledge economy, are with intang- ible character. And the most significant and with a finan- cial capacity are the objects of intellectual property. And as knowledge economy is not just a modern economic system which has temporarily gained popularity, but a basically different method, model, approach which basi- cally changes micro- and macro-economic environment, for every kind of business, it becomes indispensable to follow the methods and, in the new conditions created by knowledge economy, the activities of the business should use these intangible assets with emphasis on the objects of intellectual property. The analysis of the latest publications on the problem. The topic of intellectual property management, although highly relevant, is unfortunately sporadically discussed and poorly developed in Bulgaria. The most notable writings in the field are - "Management of Artist Performer Rights" by Prof. Violeta Tsakova, - "Trademark Management" by Assoc. Prof. Rumyana Brestnichka, - "Financial Management of Intellectual Property" by Dr. Fanny Koleva, - "Management of Innovation in the Industrial Enterprise" by Dr. Iskra Pantaleeva and - "Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights" by Georgi Sarakinov. The fundamental information on the topic is provided in Prof. Violeta Tsakova's lectures, which she delivers for students from the Department of Intellectual Property in the University of National and World Economy as part of the "Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Management" course presented in New Bulgarian University, as well as "Intellectual Property Management" by Prof. Dr. Vladya Borisova in UNWE. The basic principles of the topic are also laid out in the books and writings by specialists and professors in the intellectual property field such as Prof. Violeta Tsakova, Prof. Borislav Borisov, Prof. Maria Markova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rumiana Brestnichka, Prof. Dr. Vladya Borisova. Forming of the aims of the research. The goal of this article is to show the importance of intellectual property and its management for the contemporary know-