Playbook for patent competitive intelligence and better business decisions

By Michael Bielski

Product / technology categories
Product / technology categories are user-defined labels for organizing a relevant patent dataset. These categories can change depending on the objective of the analysis and the product / technology space being evaluated. Importantly, the categories should organize the patent dataset in a way that provides valuable information to the executives of the organization.

For example, categories such as product areas; technology areas, customers, suppliers, competitors are each potential product / technology categories that can be used to organize a patent dataset in a meaningful manner.

Using patent classification codes (such as IPC, US Patent Classes) can sometimes be an efficient way to organize a patent dataset.

TIP: Value in analyzing product / technology categories - find out what is being patented. Executives asking themselves, "What is being patented?" should be cognizant of realizing organizing a patent dataset by mapping each patent to a product / technology area or patent classification code allows executives to understand not only the number of patents that an assignee owns, but more importantly, what they are patenting. This analysis could provide executives competitive insight into product and technology strategies, competitive advantages, and IP strengths (and weaknesses).

Filing Date
Filing date simply refers to the date that a patent has been filed. This is more telling than patent issue date (issuance is usually years after filing date) for competitive information purposes because the filing date allows executives to more accurately track the evolution of innovation and IP strategies in an organization relative to product / technology strategies at the time of invention.

TIP: Value in analyzing filing date - find out when something is being patented. Executives asking themselves, "When is it being patented?" should be cognizant of the following:

Understanding timelines
Organizing a patent dataset by filing date provides a timeline to the innovation and IP strategies of an organization. Earlier filings may be less relevant compared to recent filings. Recent filings may indicate new product / technology areas whereas older filings may indicate older, obsolete product / technology areas. Closely monitoring how an organization's IP filings change over time is valuable in understanding an organization's overall corporate strategy.

Filing jurisdictions
Filing jurisdictions indicate where an organization has filed patents on an invention. The number of patents an organization has may not be a clear indicator of the level of invention occurring in an organization - a single invention may be filed in multiple jurisdictions.

TIP: Value in analyzing filing jurisdictions - find out where it's being patented. Executives asking themselves, "Where is it being patented?" should be cognizant of the following:

Jurisdictional filings add significant costs to a patent portfolio
Whenever multiple jurisdictional filings are made by an organization, this usually means the corporation intends to conduct business now or in the future in a particular country. Observing trends in jurisdictional filings may give executives information on where competitors are outsourcing, selling product, making products or licensing products. Importantly, these trends may also indicate the perceived value of patents in a certain jurisdiction. Therefore, a lack of patents being filed in a particular jurisdiction by an IP savvy organization is important to understand as it may indicate that it may not be worth the cost to file due to lack of patent enforcement.

Closing comments

Patents contain a significant amount of competitive information if they are analyzed in the right way. Understanding who is patenting in your business space, what they're patenting, when have they filed and where they have filed provides tremendous insight into competitive business, technical and product strategies.

This information can be relied upon because patents are resource intensive documents - it takes a significant amount of time and intellectual capital to receive a patent.

Typically, an organization's patents are a clear link to the current or future business objectives of an organization. Whether executives are making decisions about identifying potential contract manufacturers, partnerships, acquisitions, licensees or simply trying to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace, patent analysis enhance the decision making process.

VentureOutsource.com, September 2008

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