Historically, patents have been the responsibility of IP lawyers and corporate law departments: "the IP department." For discrete technologies, where patents are used primarily as legal tools to protect exclusivity, this arrangement still makes good sense.

In complex technologies, however, the influence of patents has flooded into the mainstream of business operations. There is no longer any clear line of separation between the patent strategy and the business strategy. There is, in fact, no such thing as a patent strategy; there is only a business strategy in which patents play a supporting, or in some cases, dominant role. One reason for this is that patents are incredibly versatile business assets. Patents can be: 

- used to enforce exclusivity

- used as defense in litigation

- licensed broadly to generate revenue

- licensed exclusively to a business partner

- licensed with other patents in a patent pool

- bought

- sold

- transferred

- donated to charitable institutions to claim tax relief

- used to build joint ventures

- used to form the basis of cooperative research

- used to demonstrate technical prowness

Creating an agile IPR-focused business strategy requires thinking and acting across disciplines. Contact Avvika AB to see how we can help you develop a comprehensive and integrated strategy for patents.

 

"The market is overcrowded with people who have developed one-dimensional competencies. The current educational system does not lead to the training of IP professionals in a multi-dimensional way. There are few programmes that aim to train students in IP across various disciplines. While we have clearly succeeded in building up a solid labour force of IP lawyers, as well as general managers and engineers, there is a clear need for IP entrepreneurs who can think and act across disciplines. [...]"

"Changing Minds," Intellectual Asset Management, June/July 2006, p. 31

Note: This site is under continuous construction. New material is added frequently. Some links may be inactive and some may fail (often only temporarily) without warning. News items are added regularly depending on events and your commentator's workload. Old news items are placed ced here in the archive. Embedded external links may expire and I may also delete/edit items in the archive without warning. I apologize for any inconvenience. This website contains general information relating to patents and other intellectual properties and is presented for informational purposes only. Nothing herein is offered as legal advice.

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