IP Strategy

Legal +  Market + Customer = Future Business Value

The financial and strategic benefits of intellectual property are increasingly important decision points in today’s business community. For some firms having intellectual property protection is the difference between failure and success in a competitive marketplace – but this comes at a cost.

Common business practice has given firms a variety of tactics to choose from: they can defend against or work around existing competitors patents; or they can enter the patent race themselves by developing a portfolio to generate royalty revenues, create bargaining chips or block competitors from moving into the protected space. Accurately executing these options is difficult, however, for the average  firm. Patents are expensive to obtain and can take several years to grant with no certainty that the innovation will be worth even at least the cost associated with filing it, let alone the cost of enforcing it.

The response: a strategic view of generating an IP portfolio

Strategically creating and developing a patent portfolio, based on a measure of quality and quantity, will allow a firm to dedicate the financial and personnel resources identify and file  valuable patents.  There are several aspects of a IP strategy:

Patent Quality and Quantity

  • Patent Quality = Alignment with Business + Legally Enforceable +Economic Value
  • Patent Culture: Creation of a culture-driven IP strategy.
  • IP Vision: First mover advantage of IP where the future market and technology intersect.